Nature Valley bars have that horrible combination of being absolutely delicious, but ridiculously highly priced, so when I saw a homemade version that claimed to be every bit as good as the original on Chocolate Covered Katie, I knew I had to give it a try.

As with most of the things I’ve been baking recently, I added chocolate to keep the pony happy, but otherwise followed it to the letter, even using Truvia rather than sugar to keep them healthy(ish).

I took my eye off them when they were in the oven and probably baked them for about a minute too long, as they were definitely ‘golden’ in appearance, but I am pleased to report it didn’t affect the taste or texture, and they were indeed just like Nature Valley bars!

I would definitely make these again, but maybe change up the ingredients to recreate some of the other Nature Valley flavours – I’m especially fond of the ginger one which I’m sure can be easily done…

Crunchy ‘Nature Valley’ style chocolate chip granola bars (recipe adapted from Chocolate Covered Katie)

• 100g rolled oats
• 10g rice krispies
• 3 tbsp ground oats or oat flour
• 100g dark chocolate, chopped
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp sunflower oil
• 3 tbsp maple syrup
• 1 tbsp Truvia or other sweetener

Mix together all the dry ingredients in a bowl, then stir in the wet ingredients until everything is well combined. Press down as hard as you can into an 8×8″ square tin, lined with baking paper, then bake at 180 degrees for 15-20 minutes, keeping an eye out for when they are nicely golden and crisp. Leave to cool before cutting into bars.