The pictorial recipe is below this print version. If you see a green or orange $ symbol next to an ingredient, clicking it will show the sales in YOUR community this week on that item (or share an additional recipe from a partner). Ingredients Adapted from Elana’s Pantry Ingredients 2 cups almonds (raw or crispy nuts) Method Makes 20 bars UPDATE: I tried this recipe again, absolutely thinking I needed the dark chocolate to make it taste good, and I was pleasantly surprised to find out that they’re delicious without it! Be sure to check out the Walnut-Oat Pie crust too, a healthy alternative to graham cracker crusts. Check out the “Bean and Veggie Meal Plan Analysis“. I’ll help you find ways to include healthy beans and veggies in the foods you and your family already serve and enjoy! —————————————– I’d love to see more of you! Sign up for an email subscription or grab my reader feed. If you missed the last Monday Mission, click here. Kitchen Stewardship is dedicated to balancing God’s gifts of time, health, earth and money. If you feel called to such a mission, read more at Mission, Method, and Mary and Martha Moments. Other Healthy Recipes you may enjoy:
If taking real food on the go is a challenge for you, you’re not alone. Join thousands of other happy owners of Healthy Snacks to Go, an eBook that is helping real foodies everywhere keep their families nourished (and kids happy) even when they need to pack a snack — without resorting to processed junk food or expensive health food store treats. With over a dozen different “bar” recipes alone, including many that are grain-free and contain zero refined sugar, I guarantee you’ll find a new family favorite in Healthy Snacks to Go.
Almond Power Bars
Almond Power Bars
½ cup flax meal (flax seeds ground in a blender)
½ cup shredded coconut (unsweetened)
½ cup unsalted almond butter (like peanut butter, made from almonds instead)
½ teaspoon salt
½ cup coconut oil (unrefined is best; could probably sub butter here)
1-2 Tbs honey
1 Tbs maple syrup
2-3 teaspoons homemade vanilla extract (or at least real)
a few squares dark chocolate, less than half a bar needed for thin layer (optional)
Adapted from Elana’s Pantry
Num!! I’m always looking for a good snack bar recipe. I’ll have to give this a try. Although I’ll have to sub out organic peanut butter for almond butter and butter for coconut oil. And sadly – no chocolate in the house! geez – maybe I should just wait it out till I have the proper ingredients!
Tara’s last blog post.."omelets" ~ fast food style
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Katie Reply:
July 2nd, 2009 at 2:54 am
I did have to complete the 1/2 cup almond butter with a bit of peanut butter, and I bet butter instead of c.oil would be just fine – go for it! The chocolate definitely helped, though, you may want to wait for that. Good luck! I visited your blog, too — good stuff!
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Emma Reply:
October 18th, 2012 at 5:12 am
This looks delicious. I am trying to eat a lot less refined sugar. I found flax seeds upset my stomach – do you have any alternative suggestions please?
Thank you.
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
October 27th, 2012 at 11:47 pm
Emma,
Katie
Sorry I missed your comment for so long – I would think the flax doesn’t have any special binding purpose, so you could just use coconut, maybe even applesauce at half the quantity, more nuts or sunflower seeds, or ground chia seeds. Hopefully one of those will help! Enjoy!
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Emma Reply:
October 28th, 2012 at 12:33 am
Thank you Katie.
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Ooh this is good. Healthy snacks are key. Thanks for sharing!
Michelle @ Find Your Balance’s last blog post..You. Need. Fat.
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I also made Elana’s power bars and loved them! They are so great!
Kimi @ The Nourishing Gourmet’s last blog post..“Raw” Berry Freezer Jam (Honey Sweetened)
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These bars are really incredibly delicious. I didn’t have any coconut oil so I used Crisco (no trans-fats, but still not ideal). After reading up on the health benefits of coconut oil, and being generally skeptical of soybean oil, I’m planning on buying coconut oil for the next batch, which will surely be soon.
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Katie Reply:
August 21st, 2009 at 10:46 am
Nice. Crisco no trans fats? I dunno about that. I think Crisco is kind of the epitome of trans fats…let’s look into this. What do the ingredients list? I would always default to butter as the sub for coconut oil if I didn’t have any. Check here for my best price on a gallon of c. oil: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2009/08/13/a-good-deal-on-top-fats/
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Nourishing Protein Bars – A Great Whole Foods Snack – Passionate Homemaking // Nov 10, 2009 at 5:02 am
[...] my version of a good protein bar that we totally love thanks to Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship for her tweaked almond bar! Let me say that again…it is awesome! A great source of protein and a fun way to get those [...]
Homemade Protein Bars « Catholic Mommy Brain // Nov 18, 2009 at 8:40 pm
[...] a Comment I combined two homemade protein bar recipes shared at Passionate Homemaking and Kitchen Stewardship. Where choices were given, I used flax meal, prunes, peanut butter, and honey. Note that they [...]
We just made these and my husband’s response was, “you have to make these like every day!!”
.-= Anjanette´s last blog ..Disclosure Policy =-.
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Recipe for Gluten Free, Sugar Free Go Ahead Honey, It's Gluten Free: Guiltless Pleasures March 2010 // Mar 31, 2010 at 12:36 am
[...] of Kitchen Stewardship has a healthier, gluten-free Almond Power Bar. And she’s not even a gluten-free blogger – gotta’ love our Katie! She embraces [...]
What a fantastic recipe, Katie! It’s going on my list right now.
Shirley
.-= gfe–gluten free easily´s last blog ..Eating My Words with Honey-Sweetened Corn Muffins (March Muffin Madness) =-.
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How did it go, substituting peanut butter for almond butter and butter for coconut oil? Anyone? That’s where I am with ingredients right now …
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Katie Reply:
April 13th, 2010 at 9:38 am
Carolyn,
Katie
The PB for almond butter works great, and I believe Carrie told me the butter was fine as well. Should be a go!
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Used unsalted butter and they were great! DS (2 1/2) ate them like they were going out of style! Think I’ll cut and wrap them individually and get them into the freezer so I can space them out a bit…they’d be gone in a day if my boys had their druthers! AWESOME! And we didn’t even add the chocolate…
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wow–this recipe looks healthy AND yummy!
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My Go-to Recipes From Around The Web | Delighting in the Days // Jul 26, 2010 at 1:52 am
[...] Almond Power Bars – from Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship. I make this almost weekly now. Everyone loves it. [...]
Hi Katie,
I found your blog through Heavenly Homemakers, and I just made your power bars, which are so good! Two of my sons have nut allergies, so I substituted raw sunflower seeds for the almonds, and sunflower seed butter for the almond butter, so they’re still classified as protein bars and they turned out great! Thanks for the great, easy recipe!
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Katie Reply:
August 4th, 2010 at 10:12 am
Jen,
Katie
It’s great to know about viable allergy-friendly alternatives!
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These are the best bars. I make them every Sunday now. I used peanut butter and butter before and they taste great also. I don’t use the chocolate either. This time I incorporated pecans with the almonds. I think it is going to be good. I love this recipe!!!! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
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Anyone have an idea what the calorie/fat content is to these? They look amazing!!
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Katie Reply:
January 6th, 2011 at 12:55 am
Shari,
Katie
Honestly, with wholesome ingredients like these and practically no sweetener, I wouldn’t worry a whit about calories or fat! These are all good, healthy fats, and I’m sure a calorie count would look terrible because nuts have a high fat/high cal content. But healthy is healthy, no matter what the “numbers” say!
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These bars are awesome! I brought these in to work for people to try and they loved them! I really LOVE your website…I could spend all day looking at-up things. I have made several of your recipes and really just love everything you have here. Wanted to let you know Katie.
Donna
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Katie Reply:
January 24th, 2011 at 8:59 am
Thanks, Donna! I love to hear from readers!
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Is a vitamix a food processor? I just tried making these in mine, and was a big failure! It wouldn`t mix, I had to add water to get it to halfway go! Any tips for me??! Thanks! They sound really yummy…
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Katie Reply:
March 8th, 2011 at 12:48 pm
Kara,
Katie
Do you mean you have and used a Vitamix? I can only imagine that should do a great job with the bars. ??? I make them in my normal food processor, but yes, a Vitamix is supposed to be a super powerful food processor. The coconut oil really gets them to stick together. I hope you can make them worK!
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Stephanie M Reply:
April 16th, 2011 at 7:11 pm
I would make sure your liquid ingredients are at the bottom and use your tamper to push everything down.
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I made these bars the other day and they are “FABULOUS”. I gave them to all my non health food eating friends and family and they too loved them. I added some goji berries for a little extra nutritional kick and it was a great contrast. Thanks!!
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Oh this looks positively divine! I just finished making a variation of your regular granola bars (peanut butter and chocolate) and I must give these a go next time I get some almonds! This sounds so good!
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After School Snackage | Fix Me A Snack // Aug 17, 2011 at 3:17 pm
[...] Almond Power Bars from Kitchen Stewardship [...]
Absolutely delicious, but mine are all crumbly. Don’t hold together. Any ideas? Which ingredient should I add more of?
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Katie Reply:
August 22nd, 2011 at 2:29 am
KP,
katie
did you refrigerate them? That makes a world of difference. If they’re still crumbly, I’m sure a bit more coconut oil or almond butter would do the trick. You can see in the photo that mine are pretty gooey in the food processor but harden up nicely in the fridge. They shouldn’t be crumbly for sure – I’m sure you’ll be able to get them to stick!
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Weekend Shenanigans « Wild, Not Wise // Aug 22, 2011 at 1:07 pm
[...] again to make lunch, make almond power bars, and do my yoga. I worked through the whole Primary series, which was fun. Still not doing any [...]
I don’t have a food processor? Is it still possible to make this? (I am a complete newbie to this whole homemade thing, so sorry if this is a silly question!!
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Katie Reply:
August 27th, 2011 at 11:44 am
Amarea,
Katie
A good blender might do the trick, or a mini food chopper *maybe*…you would need something to get the almonds chopped really, really finely (you can tell in the picture that a knife, for example, probably wouldn’t be enough). No silly questions! Good for you to start down the path to making more of your own!
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Hi Katie,
I really want to try this and the granola bar recipes but my problem is this – I really, really don’t like coconut. I can manage coconut oil in things, but not the actual shredded coconut, both texture and flavour do weird things to me. Can you suggest a reasonable substitute for the shredded coconut?
Many thanks,
Louise
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Katie @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
September 2nd, 2011 at 1:54 am
Louise,
First, because everything is chopped in the food processor, I’m not sure if you could pick out the texture of the coconut (not my fav either). I’m thinking you could always try simply omitting it, or add extra flax or maybe ground nuts to compensate.
I don’t actually call for coconut in the granola bars, though.
Katie
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Louise Reply:
September 2nd, 2011 at 7:57 am
Right you are, I was thinking the actual granola rather than the granola bars. I will definitely try substituting, I have lots of ground flax available or could grind up some nuts fairly easily. I just don’t want to risk making a whole batch of something and not wanting to eat it because I can taste the coconut. Thanks so much for the response! I’ve never been really confident when it comes to altering recipes, so it helps to have some experienced input.
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Homemade Almond Power Bars | beyondthepeel.net // Dec 16, 2011 at 12:18 pm
[...] I saw this power bar recipe on Kitchen Stewardship, almost by fluke really. It’s been such a popular recipe that people have copied it and [...]
Do these need to be stored in the fridge to hold together? I’m wondering what your thoughts are as to whether they would hold up well enough to take backpacking or would they just crumble to pieces. Did anyone who is a backpacker make these and what do you think?
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Katie Reply:
January 4th, 2012 at 10:40 pm
Sandra,
If you’re backpacking in summer heat, I don’t think they would quite work great. They do fine at room temperature here in the winter though.
For backpacking, I highly recommend a homemade larabar-type dried-fruit-and-nut bar. They really hold together well (I make little balls out of them for ease of serving/eating), hold up in heat, and are SO yummy and energizing. I have 14 variations in my eBook, but you can also find recipes via Google searches.
Thanks! Katie
(ebook: http://www.kitchenstewardship.com/2010/04/26/healthy-snacks-to-go-ebook-now-on-sale/)
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Can wheat germ be substituted for the flax seed in this recipe? I just bought some raw almonds over the weekend and really want to try this recipe;)
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Katie Reply:
January 19th, 2012 at 12:06 pm
Kelly,
Probably (?) but I don’t usually recommend taking the germ out of the wheat… Maybe just skip the flax or add a bit more almonds? Katie
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Amazingly delicious! Thank you for sharing this recipe.
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were a hit at class tonight!
)
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Made these for the first time this weekend. They’re good, and they hold together, but they’re kind of “wet”. Any advice? Thanks.
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 12:56 am
Lucy,
Katie
You can always add some almonds or adjust the almond butter, or whatever is making them too wet. Sometimes mine are denser than others, true…fiddle until they fit your tastes!
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Found your site today and have been reading a few of your great posts!
Wanted to comment on this one as I’ve been trying to come up with recipes for my own energy bars.
These sound delicious but I don’t know if I’d call them “power bars”. Maybe a natural candy bar?
They don’t offer much in the way of either carbs or protein and almost 90% of the calories come from fat.
They sound great and will try them out as a nice treat but wouldn’t use them to replace protein or energy bars as I thought might be the case since you used “power bars” in the name.
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 12:57 am
True – but all those nuts have quite a bit of protein, wouldn’t you say? And mmm, fat, good source of energy!
Katie
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Sproxno Reply:
March 13th, 2012 at 5:57 pm
Katie,
You can go to http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php and analyze the recipe yourself.
I got 16.3g of fat, 6.3g carbs and 3.7g protein per serving.
Compare that to an energy bar like a Clif bar that has 7g fat, 41g carbs, 10g protein.
Or a PowerBar wich has 5g fat, 38g carbs, 23g protein.
Fat takes longer to convert to energy (up to 6 hours) than carbs or proteins do. Apparently fats can be good if you’re doing something long like running a marathon.
I’m just being nit-picky about the naming since power bar makes me think of PowerBar which is a protein bar.
These are tasty treats that I would enjoy
just not something I would grab for some quick energy before I go out for a run. I’m about to do that just now. It’s been a few hours since I last ate and I scarfed down a homemade energy bar I made for a boost.
I will be trying these too because they look so good
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Lucy Reply:
March 15th, 2012 at 10:56 am
At least you admit that you’re being nit-picky. That’s the first step, right?
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Kelley Reply:
July 17th, 2012 at 7:06 pm
I love the fact that these are so low in carbs…..and that they taste wonderful!!!
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Thanks for the recipe- excellent combination or ingredients and a great platform to modify or add things to. I used chis seeds instead of flax (allergic to flax), turned out great and have added antioxidants. Keep up the inspiring work!
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Raw Almond Peanut Butter Bars The Healthy Family and Home // Apr 12, 2012 at 4:43 pm
[...] felt like making a dessert snack today and came across this one at http://www.kitchenstewardship.com. While I am infamous for altering recipes, this one had quite the [...]
Nutty for Nutty Bars « Smithspirations // May 1, 2012 at 9:47 pm
[...] to have developed this recipe, I’m not and I didn’t, but I’m very glad that Kitchen Stewardship was smart enough to concoct these, and that Passionate Homemaking shared the recipe so I could [...]
Raw almonds are SO sweet! I love them!
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Those are my 5yo’s favorite!
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According to the Nourishing Traditions of Weston A Price, you should soak or sprout nuts and seeds to obtain all the nutritional benefits things like almonds and flax seed. Has anyone tried this recipe, but soaked/sprouted the items first?
It looks really yummy and I want to try making them, but would like to make them as “healthy” as possible.
Thanks!
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
June 25th, 2012 at 12:35 am
Shannon,
I always make “crispy nuts” by soaking and dehydrating nuts first, so you’re good to go on the almonds. I don’t make my own almond butter, but I’m sure the recipe would be good with “crispy” almond butter. It is however much tastier with roasted almond butter, I will say.
As for flax, I don’t know that it’s possible to soak or sprout flaxseed. They get so gelatinous in water; it seems like it would be impossible to get them back “apart.” Have you ever soaked or sprouted flax?
Let me know how it goes!
Katie
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this is one of our family’s all time favorite recipes!
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Want to make these so bad. Just what I need for a pregnant grab & go snack.
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I so want to try making these asap! Loving this site & now following. Looking forward to more healthy ideas
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Chocolate Yogurt Granola Bars | Jen's Favorite Cookies // Sep 14, 2012 at 9:00 am
[...] Almond Power Bars from Kitchen Stewardship [...]
I made these tonight but used pecans because that’s the only raw nut I had. They are amazing!!! Even my kids loved them! Said they tasted like cookies! I’ll be making these a lot! Thanks for the recipe!
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I made these with walnuts and PB as I didn’t have almonds or almond butter. They were yummy but salty for my taste. I suppose I should have cut out the salt if my PB had salt in it?
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I made these this week and was too lazy (i.e., strapped on time because I have a 5 month old) to do the chocolate topping. So instead and just threw a handful of carob chips in the processor with everything else and blended them in. Yum. My sister made the original recipe so we compared tastes and agreed mine tastes just a bit richer….which works for me because I’m using these as a desert snack each night. So happy because this recipe is super easy and fast enough to make while my baby is taking a 20 minute nap!!! : ) Oh, and I used almond extract because I was out of vanilla. Another reason they probably taste a little more rich. This will be a new staple recipe in our household.
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Hi Katie,
Thanks for this. What a delicious recipe!!!!!! I’m wondering, however, how to get the chocolate to stick to the bar and then not to crack. Maybe if I add some coconut oil to the chocolate? Not sure if that would help of hinder…
Thanks so much!!
Kristin
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 2:49 am
Kristin,
Katie
You know, it has been a while since I’ve made this one, and I cannot remember that happening. I imagine there are many types of chocolate. You’re probably onto something with the coconut oil, though. Good luck!
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I tried these today and it seems my large cuisinart food processor could not handle it. Did you soak the almonds first? My FP is fairly new – 3 years, I think, so I find it hard to believe it couldn’t do it! I don’t know what I did wrong, but I even tried our blender. No luck. Everything was in rock hard clumps and the almonds just didn’t want to budge. Any advice is appreciated! They look so very tasty and I hate to throw away food!
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Katie Kimball @ Kitchen Stewardship Reply:
February 4th, 2013 at 2:53 am
DM,
That’s probably what I would try… 
Katie
I usually use crispy nuts, soaked and dehydrated. Hmmm…did the coconut oil harden and cause problems? I grind nuts in my food processor all the time without problem. Can you eat the clumps?
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Choco-Almond Snack Bites | Hold The Sugar // Jan 29, 2013 at 7:43 pm
[...] found these delightful things over at Kitchen Stewardship. They satisfy that urge for something a little sweet and are full of flavor and nutrition, and [...]