Breakfast Bars With Oats and Coconut Recipe (2024)

I have to chuckle when I see recommendations to make a dish healthier by swapping out granulated sugar for maple syrup, agave syrup, honey, and the like. Your body won't know the difference. Sugar is sugar, regardless of the form it takes, and we eat far too much of it. In my experience, you can cut the sugar (in whatever form) in NYTimes recipes by half and they are still plenty sweet.

My experience with baking in general: most dessert recipes are too sweet for our taste. Certain things — where the sugar does not seem to be essential to the chemical reactions inherent in baking — can be made with 1/2 the sugar just omitted with no substitute. This seems to be one of those recipes.

I make a similar recipe frequently and and for sweetener use ~1Tbsp of honey plus 6 dates lightly softened in water then pureed in the food processor. With that extra moisture you might need to cut back on the nut butter a bit, or perhaps add some chia seeds to gel up the dough. The inclusion of vanilla helps it seem sweeter since we associate that flavor with baked treats — I like to also put in some cinnamon and orange zest for a similar affect.

Before I made these, I was looking for a review that said “Perfect! Just as Melissa said to make them.” I didn’t see one, so I am adding mine: “Perfect! Just as Melissa said to make them.”

Any substitutes hear for the sugar? Would love to make these but I’d rather go for something naturally sweet!

Dear Melissa, I love your recipes, flavour combinations etc. Unfortunately, I am not blessed with your metabolism. Neither do I share the self-control to "nibble on a bar all afternoon". I therefore skipped the white sugar all together and ended up with a deliciously sweet but not cloying cookie that I don't regret eating 2 at a time.

Beware the breakfast bar, the protein bar, that serves as a sneaky carrier for too much sugar. I'm sure these are delicious but not suitable for starting your day on a roller coaster ride of blood sugar imbalance. On top of rolled oats which is a refined carb, and close to a cup (!) of refined sugar, this recipe should fall under dessert.For those seeking a low sugar alternative, cut the sugar by half and add in a couple diced dates (remember to remove the pits).

Why not press the fresh dough into the prepared baking pan and THEN refrigerate? Boy, would that be easier. It’s hard to manipulate the chilled dough.

I don't understand the hand-wringing about the sugar in this recipe -- if you think the processed sugar is too much, decrease it or substitute something else. That said, having made these last night, we think they're perfect as is, easy and delicious.

Grind your flax seeds

I veganized this, because we are, and adjusted for what I had on hand.1/4 C almond butter1/2 C peanut butter3 Tbsp vegan butter1/2 org white sugar1 ripened banana1 flax egg (1 T grnd flax seed + 3 T H2O, set 5 m)1/2 tsp salt2 tsp vanilla extract1-2/3 C Montana Wheat GF oats3/4 tsp baking powder1/4 C raisins1/8 C chia seeds1/4 C sunflower seeds1/4 pumpkin seedsFollowed rest of recipe.It turned out a beautiful golden brown. Cooling right now. Hubby can’t wait.

I have diabetes and my partner usually replaces white sugar with monk fruit and brown sugar with coconut sugar, i believe they're each a 1:1 replacement.

For me this is too much sugar - especially in the morning, & especially for children. I would think it could be cut substantially and still have a complex, tasty breakfast bar. Has anyone tried that? I do love Melissa, but I always have to reduce her sugar & fat proportions.

Certainly cut the sugar if you want, but one of these bars contains only 1/18th of the total amount of sugar, or any of ingredients

It's only a third cup of coconut. I would just add more oats or fruit instead.

If I make again, consider adding the amount of sugar indicated or at least more than 1/3 cup of each.

Used crunchy peanut butter and allulose brown and white sugars. Did not rest the dough for 6 hours. Baked right away and it's good-- made 28 round cookies. Also used kodiak high protein oats. tasted great.

We also dislike overly sweet baked goods and found that 1/2 cup brown sugar was plenty sweet. I also followed suggestions to increase the nut butter to 200 grams and use two whole eggs - both excellent ideas. The only seeds I had were poppy seeds, so I added toasted, chopped pecans, and dried cranberries instead of cherries. Delicious! Just what I was looking for in a breakfast bar/snack cake.

This bars were incredible and exactly what I was looking for…to be honest I adjusted the recipe to fit what I wanted. A hearty “healthish” treat. Added:-1/4 c AP flour -3 bananas -Omitted white sugar and added 2 tbs of extra brown sugar -1/4 c millet -1/2 dark chocolate-1 c apricots-1/2 c prunes-cinnamonDid I wait 6 hours before baking? No I didn’t have the patience. Did I dramatically alter the recipe. Yes. But it turned out exactly how I wanted. Great base recipe to build off of.

Delicious as written and filling. Next time, I’ll add more dried cherries and might try coconut oil in place of butter for flavor.

I take these on long runs for a delicious, soft alternative to prepackaged energy bars. They are always a hit when I share them! Next time I’ll replace some of the poppy seeds with chia.

I'm not sure what happened. I chilled for 6 hours, cooked the recipe as written, but baked for 35 minutes total. It looked crispy and golden brown on top. When I cut into it, after letting it cool completely, it broke apart into delicious 'gravel'. A few held their bar shape - mostly the corner pieces. Ingredient swaps were subbing 1/2 cup date paste for the granulated sugar & used hemp seeds instead of poppy seeds. Maybe the date paste made it too moist? Still super tasty.

subbed peanut butter for almond butter, chia seeds for flax, and prunes for cherries and it was still lovely! Also quartered the sugar because why make it so sweet lol

Use 7x11 aluminum pan - fine

I've made this numerous times and just realized I never let the dough chill for 6 hours. IMHO it doesn't matter. They're still delicious. I like to add chocolate chips and sliced almonds too.

I made these into muffins and they turned out great! I'm not a big fan of sweet breakfasts so I halved the sugar and felt they were just sweet enough. Next time I think I will grind up half of the oats so they bind better and don't crumble as much while eating.

Delicious! I cut out the brown sugar, used crunchy peanut butter, added 2 really ripe bananas, threw in some sliced almonds and left them in the fridge overnight in a Pyrex dish so I wouldn’t need to transfer before baking. Let them sit out for about half an hour before popping them into the oven for 35 mins. Came out really soft. Definitely making them again!

Good. Used cranberries and peanut butter. Instead of white and brown sugar used scant 1/2 turbinado sugar. Used ground flax seed. Also put in pan prior to refrigeration.

Fabulous recipe - made as written.

Has anyone made these without the seeds? I suspect the resident grab & go breakfast eaters wouldn't be fans. Thinking of using super chunk peanut butter instead of the almond butter & omitting the coconut and all the seeds.