Amish Heritage

Amish Granola Bars

Amish homemade granola bars have a chewy texture, a sweet oaty flavor, and pockets of mini chocolate chips. These no-bake granola bars are easy to make and a great portable snack.

Marshmallow Granola Bars

I’m not going to try to convince you that these honey oat granola bars are healthy granola bars. They have some healthy ingredients, and there is no added sugar. But we all know that marshmallows are loaded with sugar.

And there are some processed ingredients, like graham crackers and Rice Krispies. But they are homemade granola bars, and anything homemade is still a bit healthier than highly processed store-packaged foods that are loaded with preservatives.

Versatile Kid-friendly Granola Bars

Chocolate chip granola bars are great for packing in a lunch or for an afternoon snack. And kids love these chewy and crispy granola bars. It’s a good way to get extra grains into their diet.

And the good news is that these easy no-bake granola bars are also versatile. You can leave out the chocolate chips and add raisins instead. Add pepitas or sliced almonds. And if you need them to be gluten-free bars, you can leave out the graham cracker crumbs.

So feel free to adjust some of the ingredients, but for best results, you will need to keep the amounts close to the same.

Amish Snacks

Growing up Amish in a family of ten kids, we didn’t eat very much store-bought snacks. You can only imagine the cost of buying snacks for a large family and how fast they’d disappear.

And honestly, we did not eat a lot of snacks. We ate three meals a day and we were supposed to fill up enough to last us till the next meal.

But sometimes we were allowed to have a little snack when we came home from school. It was typically homemade or homegrown, although we occasionally had pretzels or nuts, etc.

Some delicious homemade Amish snacks that are easy to make include this Homemade Protein Balls Recipe, Amish Caramel Popcorn, or Homemade Soft Pretzels.

Amish Traditions Sometimes Change

As I’ve told you before, my dad demanded that the family all sit around the table together at mealtimes, if at all possible. It’s an Amish tradition.

However, some things did change over the years. I was one of the younger kids, and for several years there were only two of us at home anymore. And there were quite a few changes in our home from the time I was a little girl till I left home at 25 years of age.

Growing up, my family always gathered for three meals a day (unless we were at school or work). But during my last several years at home, we didn’t eat supper together anymore. My dad decided that he needs to eat less to maintain his weight. So he didn’t want to eat a meal late in the day.

We ladies cooked a big meal for dinner (our noon meal was called dinner). And then we didn’t eat supper. Everyone just got themselves a little snack or leftovers from lunch.

My mom made these Amish granola bars, and my dad got in the habit of eating a granola bar and an apple for his supper. So homemade granola bars became a staple (a necessary food item 🙂 ) in our home.

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Easy Chewy Granola Bars

These DIY chewy granola bars are not hard to make. But it can be a bit of a sticky mess. So you’ll want to make sure to grease your tools (bowl, pan, scraper, etc.) with butter.

Grease or line with parchment a 10 x 15″ jelly roll pan.

Mix the dry ingredients in a large greased bowl and set aside.

Heat the butter and oil over low heat, then add the marshmallows and stir until they’re melted. Remove from the heat and add the peanut butter and honey. Mix until combined. Then immediately pour this mixture slowly over the granola mixture as you are stirring to cover and mix.

Once you have a giant cohesive ball and the crumbs are all mixed in, press the mixture into your prepared sheet pan.

Cool and cut into bars. One of my favorite kitchen utensils is a mini serving spatula. It’s perfect for serving these Amish granola bars.

Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to a week. Refrigerate your granola bars to keep them longer.

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