What's the Best Packaging for Homemade Granola Bars? Good Questions

Q: I recently tried to make pastel — a delicious but gooey mess. Parchment paper and wax paper both stuck too much and tore to pieces. I would love to make my own granola bars or fruit and nut bars, but would like to use honey instead of refined sugars to keep things more natural — a.k.a. keep it more sticky. The question for the home cooks: how do you package and store homemade granola bars?

Sent by Elle

Editor: Elle, I've found that even sticky homemade bars are fine once they have cooled down completely; they should be able to be wrapped after that. And I do use plastic wrap for them, too — I think you are right that parchment is going to stick too much. You can also put them in small covered containers and bypass wrapping them at all.

Readers, any tips or hints on packaging sticky homemade baked goods?

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Related: Recipe: Crunchy Granola Bars

(Image: Faith Durand)

Comments (9)

I use parchment paper to line the tray when I make granola bars, and they don't stick at all. I store them in a tupperware and divide the stacked layers with wax paper and have never had a sticking problem there. Also, when I pack them up individually saran wrap and aluminum foil both work well.

I've been making homemade "Larabars," which are just sticky dried fruit and nuts ground in a food processor, for my kids. I coat the pan with cooking spray, cut them, and wrap them in parchment sealed with a fun sticker. Parchment is amazing!

I also haven't had issues with parchment. Does your recipe call for any oil or fat? Maybe that's a factor to consider....

I used to work in a cafe where we had these really awesome housemade granola bars that were incredibly sticky. Bake the bars with a parchment paper lined tray the night before. Make sure that the bars are cooled completely before cutting them bars and wrap in plastic wrap. Worked like a charm every time!

I've never had an issue with parchment paper either & mine use agave or honey: http://slightlyirritatingandinconvenient.blogspot.com/2011/04/my-favorite-chewy-granola-bars.html

You could dust them with cornmeal or something that will dry out the outside (or even coat with crushed breakfast cereal or something interesting). That would make them less sticky on the outside, but not compromise the nice gooeyness of the inside.

I kept the ones I made for my daughter (made with honey) unwrapped in some reusable containers.

Brush a little bit of olive oil on the parchment or wax paper first if you dont want to use something like pam, that should do the trick.