These nut-free cinnamon granola bars are vegan, gluten-free, oil-free, full of molasses flavor and have a nice crispy exterior, while the interior is dreamy soft and chewy. Perfect for snacks or an on-the-go breakfast. Easy to make and just 8 ingredients total (+salt) to make these! Say hello to your new addiction!
NUT-FREE CINNAMON GRANOLA BARS
My new addiction right here….these. Omg, I literally moaned eating these bars. I’m so excited to share this recipe. These are super soft, chewy, almost like a soft cookie. They have a warm cinnamon flavor and scent and the perfect touch of molasses.
These are chewy, full of flavor, oil-free, vegan, dairy-free, gluten-free and filling! These are the perfect healthy granola bars!
I created these for a reader who requested a granola bar that could be easy to make and also be nut-free. Well, I already have a delicious granola bar on the blog, my Almond Pulp Chocolate Chip Bars, which are a big reader favorite and my Cinnamon Roll Breakfast Bars, which are my favorite.
Enter these Vegan Nut-Free Cinnamon Granola Bars. My favorite flavor of all-time is cinnamon. The more, the better. I added a good dose of molasses to further enhance that cinnamon flavor and also give great binding quality to the bars. I used white rice flour in these as well, typically not in a granola bar, but instead of oat flour, the white rice flour gives better structure. These have a wonderful, chewy texture to them.
Instead of almond butter, I used sunbutter. I originally tried a version of coconut butter and tahini, but it didn’t work that well. It didn’t help them to hold as well, and the tahini was too strong in my opinion.
These healthy granola bars are a wonderful butter-free, dairy-free and nut-free option, so most people can enjoy them. These bars are made with wholesome ingredients and all without any added oils or refined sugars. Super delicious with a homemade latte too, I might add. These are great for snacks or a quick on-the-go breakfast.
I can’t wait to hear what you all think of these Nut-Free Cinnamon Molasses Granola Bars! As always, it’s super important to me when I work so hard in the kitchen creating these recipes for you all, to hear your feedback below in the comments. It’s the best thing ever! Be sure to drop me a line and rate the recipe!
MORE GRANOLA BAR RECIPES
- Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- Nut-free Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
- Chocolate Pecan Granola Bars
- Vanilla Pecan Dream Bars (to die for!)
- Cinnamon Roll Granola Bars
- No-Bake Cinnamon Roll Spice Bars
Nut-Free Cinnamon Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 2 cups (200g) gluten-free rolled oats (do not use quick oats)
- 3/4 cup (120g) white rice flour (brown will not work or hold as well)
- 1 1/2 tablespoons (9g) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1/2 cup (135g) unsweetened applesauce
- 3/4 cup (237g) sunbutter (or almond butter if you don't need it nut-free)
- 1/2 cup (160g) pure maple syrup
- 1/4 cup (80g) regular unsulphured molasses, not blackstrap, it's TOO strong
- 1 tablespoon (15g) vanilla extract
- I use this scale.
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 350 degrees and line an 8x8 metal square pan with parchment paper, going in both directions, for easy release later.
- To a large bowl, add the oats, rice flour, cinnamon, salt and stir well.
- Add the applesauce, sunbutter, syrup and molasses to a small sauce pan over the stove. Whisk until it is smooth. Now turn the heat to medium. Once it comes to a simmer around the edges, whisk continually for about 1-2 minutes, scraping along the edges. You are only wanting to do this just so it slightly thickens and by heating the mixture, it will become much more sticky and assist in the bars binding well. 2 minutes is enough.
- Remove from the heat and add the vanilla and whisk in. Immediately pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir really well with a spoon until it comes together and gets really sticky, about a couple of minutes. You want to spend a couple of minutes stirring underneath and around, making sure to get all the rice flour. Spread the mixture into your prepared pan with the back of your spoon or by dragging a rubber spatula across, making sure the top is flat and the corners are even too.
- Bake for 35 minutes, when it is very golden brown and the top is firm and shiny. Remove and you must let the bars cool a full hour before cutting. They will firm up a TON while cooling, so don't get all impatient and ruin them by cutting them while still hot! Trust me, ok? After the hour is up, lift out the bars with the parchment paper and carefully slice them into bars with a really sharp knife, making sure to cut all the way through each bar, so they don't tear when you lift them. Take a bite and tell me below how incredible they are right?! I'll be eager to hear your feedback.
- Store at room temperature and they will remain firm, but soft. Yummy either way. I like to wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap to conceal the freshness.
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These are dangerously delicious! This was my first time using sunbutter, and I think I’ll be keeping some on hand from now on so that I can keep making these! The cinnamon and molasses combo is just perfect!
Sorry I already asked what I wanted to know if it’s possible to up my gluten oats in place of the rice flour which I never use or could I ground up my oats for the 3/4 rice flour, pls email me
Hi Barbara! Yes, I just replied to your comment on my Vegan 8 page. You asked to use a gluten-free blend but you are asking about oats, not sure which one you want to use, but oat flour will not work here I’m afraid the bars would fall apart. Rice flour has a very strong binding effect, so you are welcome to try it out, but I don’t think it would hold well. It would probably be more like a granola instead of a bar. That is my guess since I’ve only tested it with rice flour.
Hi Brandi. What brand of sun butter do you use? My local store where I shop the brands have some come sweetener in them. Would love a recommendation? Thanks Susan
Hi Susan! I make my own because all the stores tend to have oil in them. I just buy raw, unsalted sunflower kernels and process them in my food processor for a LONG time until it becomes really, really smooth, almost runny. It takes quite awhile to turn it from super sticky thick to smooth and runny but it eventually will happen. You have to scrape the sides a few times during.
Just made these. Can’t wait to eat them with my coffee in the morning. I subbed peanut butter and coconut flour. A little less than the recipe called for. Seems like it worked out. A little sweet for me, maybe the peanut butter added to it. I will make again though, yum!
Hi Nikki! Glad you liked them. Yes, coconut flour behaves completely different than the rice flour, so I wouldn’t have suggested using it. It’s also sweeter than rice flour and will give a different flavor and texture profile. I would use that next time for best results! 🙂
Super yummy!!!!
Thank you so much Julie, so happy you loved these! Loved your pic of them on Instagram too!
Can the molasses be substituted with any other ingredient? Possibly agave or coconut sugar? Also, I use spelt flour at home can I use spelt flour for this recipe?
Hi Maria! I wouldn’t recommend agave or coconut sugar. That will make the bars too sweet. You need a very sticky, thick liquid like molasses, as that is what helps hold the bars together. The best sub, and which another reader used, would be brown rice syrup. I have not tried it with spelt, so I can’t vouch for the results with it, but I would try it and let me know how they turn out. I think it should be ok.
Thank you, Brandi for the recipe. Made this last weekend. I am not used to cooking or baking with molasses but had some sitting around so I thought I’d try. My bars came out darker than yours and I can definitely detect the unusual taste but I like them. The only changes I made was to use brown rice flour (since didn’t have white rice) and used half of the maple syrup as I don’t like the deserts too sweet (who could have thought before I started plant based and was off sugar for some time?). It was plenty sweet for me and actually I thought the taste was a bit chocolaty. Strange since there is no cocoa powder. Did you find it chocolaty too? Simple to make and delicious. What else can you ask for? Will definitely have to repeat. Next time – double portion 🙂
By the way, saw you in the clip of Eating You Alive on YouTube. Quite excited to watch the documentary 🙂
Oh awesome, so glad you know about the documentary! I’m so beyond excited to see the whole thing, I’m truly honored to be in the movie!
Wonderful Milda! I’m so happy to hear you loved these! Did you use sunbutter or almond butter? The almond butter will yield a much darker color and also the brown rice flour is slightly darker than the white rice flour I used. Chocolatey?? No, I didn’t get that at all, haha! Just lots of cinnamon with a molasses undertone. Did you use blackstrap molasses by chance? It will yield a darker color and flavor, more similar to chocolate than the lighter molasses.
Regardless, I’m so glad you loved these, thank you for the feedback!
I used almond butter. The molasses I have says unsulphured on the front but in ingredients it says blackstrap. I am not sure I’ve seen non-blackstrap molasses though. In any case, turned out delicious. I found them tasting even better the next day 🙂
Wonderful Milda! So glad they worked out still and you loved them, thank you so much for the feedback! Yes, there are 2 kind of molasses, regular and blackstrap which is super dark. I have both in my pantry. Here is the link to the regular kind that I mainly use for recipes. Thanks so much again! I agree too, they get even sweeter the next day, yum 🙂
This is just regular molasses, it’s not as intense as blackstrap, which I find to be overpowering. http://amzn.to/1PUMXfW
These look great and much healthier than most store bought bars.
I’m making these first thing in the morning!
These look like the perfect snack, Brandi! 🙂 I absolutely LOVE cinnamon!
Brandi! these look SO good and chewy! I have heard molasses helps your hair grow thicker which I could totally go for lol my hair is thin! so this is an awesome tasty way to eat some molasses! … some people eat it plain but no way I could do that! 😉 happy weekend girl!
No way?! I’ve never heard that before, lol! Well, my hair is insanely thick, but I don’t eat enough molasses for it to be the reason, haha. But all the veggies sure help! Thanks so much girl!
These were delicious! My toddler and I absolutely love them! I used almond butter but I am getting some sun butter to try as well! Wonderful recipe!
Thank you so much Meta! So happy to hear these were such a hit! My toddler loves them too. Thank you very much for the feedback!
They look amazing! Cinnamon is one of my favourite flavours. Can;t wait to try them!
Thank you so much Mel!