Have you heard of Aussie Bites? They're sort of a cross between a mini muffin and a cookie. With a serious dose of granola bar thrown into the mix. They're a bit sweet, a tad salty, a little crunchy, and oh-so very delicious.
They boast a nice, healthy dose of Omega-3s and fiber, and they also make an incredible grab-and-go breakfast or healthy vegan snack. Basically, they rock.
I've only ever seen them on the shelves at Costco, but after becoming a bit addicted to the store-bought version, I set out to make my own. I checked the list of ingredients: Rolled oats. Butter. Flaxseeds. Coconut. Dried apricots. Raisins, honey, sunflower seeds... I could do this.
I wanted my version to be as healthy as possible, so I swapped the butter for coconut oil. And to keep them vegan, I opted for maple syrup instead of honey.
It took a handful of tries to get these right, but the recipe I settled upon has been a hit among my official taste panel (that would be, um, my toddler, my husband, my sister, my friend, and myself).
This recipe results in about four dozen Aussie bites, so if that's a bit much at one time, just freeze the extras.
Seal them in a zipper bag, put 'em in the freezer, and then pull a couple out and set them on the counter while you're starting your morning coffee. They'll be pretty well thawed and ready to go after just a few minutes.
Equipment
Ingredients
- ½ cup coconut oil
- ½ cup maple syrup
- 1 ½ cups oat flour*
- 1 ½ cups rolled oats
- ½ cup unsalted roasted sunflower seeds
- ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ⅓ cup flaxseed meal
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup raisins
- ½ cup dried apricots
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF. Spray the cups of a mini-muffin pan with non-stick spray or rub with a little coconut oil**.
- Heat the coconut oil and maple syrup in a small saucepan over medium-low heat, stirring occasionally, until coconut oil has melted. Set aside.
- To the bowl of an 8-cup or larger food processor, add oat flour, oats, and sunflower seeds. Pulse a couple of times until the seeds and oats begin to break up. Add the coconut, flaxseed meal, baking powder, and salt. Pulse to mix.
- Add the raisins and dried apricots and pulse until the apricots are approximately the size of peas.
- Pour the melted coconut oil and maple syrup over the dry ingredients, then pulse just until combined. Transfer to a large bowl and stir well to make sure all ingredients are well-combined. If any of the apricots and raisins stick together in clumps, use your fingers to separate and distribute them throughout the mix.
- Scoop by the heaping tablespoonful into the cups of the mini muffin pan (I use a cookie scoop). With your fingers, press each gently but firmly to pack and flatten.
- Bake for about 12 minutes until set and edges are golden.
- Remove from oven, allowing to cool for about 10 minutes. Use a butter knife to help pop each bite out of its respective tin; carefully remove from tin and place on a wire rack until completely cool and set. They may be fragile until completely cooled.
- Keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3-4 days, or freeze in a zipper bag.
Notes
** This recipe yields about 48, and I only have a 24-cup mini-muffin pan, so I bake in two separate batches with no issues. I have also made this recipe using a 4-cup mini food processor instead of a large food processor. I just pulse the items that need chopping or pulverizing as I go, mixing ingredients together in one large bowl.
Nutrition
This post was originally published on January 23, 2014.
Amanda says
These look great for breakfast. Do you think these would turn out ok if you substituted honey for maple syrup?
Karamjeet Arneja says
Honey and butter are in the listed ingredients in original Aussie Bites available at Costco. This recipe has replaced those ingredients respectively with Maple Syrup and Coconut Oil.
So to answer your question : A BIG yes for Honey. 🙂
Stephanie Hansen says
So glad you shared this recipe! I was just thinking to myself this morning, "I bet I could make these." YUM! Question: Have you ever tried using coconut flour with this recipe?
Amber says
I just recently bought Aussie Bites. I was hesitant because a lit if healthy baked goods are disgusting. But the are amazing. Glad I ran into your recipe!
Michelle says
I've got to tell you, as a life long Aussie, I've never heard of these. I think someone gave them that name to make them sound exotic to Americans. That said, they look yummy.
Stacy says
Aussie Bites are a commercialized (and slightly altered) version of an Anzac biscuit. Extremely yummy either way.
Sienna says
Wow! These are really good!
I used honey instead of maple syrup and cranberries instead of raisins. I don't have a muffin tin so I baked them into bars. They are crumbly but I figure I'll just use the crumbs as granola or eat with some almond milk for breakfast. (Although I wonder if using dried apricots that have been preserved to retain their color and moisture instead of plain old dried apricots would've changed the outcome).
Fantastic!
Sally says
These are awesome!! They are not quite like the ones at Costco, but delicious nonetheless. I like how they are more dense and crunchy. I made the recioe exactly as written, and I am glad I did. I just found out I have a whey allergy, so these are a great altenative to the Costco bites, which have butter (which has whey). Also, I had tried other Aussie bite recipes I found on the internet, and I felt they had too much flour and oats which overwhelmed the other flavors; plus they were all too crumbly. Your recipe proportions are great. I can taste the coconut, fruit, and subtle maple flavor, and the bites hold their shape. I like using the food processor too. They come together quickly. Excellent! Thank you so much!
Kare Troughton says
Heh, I knew when trialing these that they weren't nearly as muffin-like as the version you find at Costco, but I loved this crunchy version so much better I went with it! 😀 I'm so glad you like them too. We had a bunch in our freezer that my husband finally went through (he always grabbed a couple for breakfast on the way to work) - thanks for the reminder to whip up another batch!
ioulia says
Came across this recipe totally by accident. Made it tonight cause I knew I had all the ingredients on hand, and it only takes 10 min to make & 12 min to bake.
These are freaking AWESOME!!!! Description says it's a cross between a muffin & granola. I don't agree. To me, it tasted like a super fantastic oatmeal raisin cookie.
Also, I only got 40 out of the recipe (not 48). Calculated the nutrition:
Cal: 91; cholesterol: 0; sodium: 36; carbs: 11; fiber:1.4; protein: 1.8
Trust me, these are FANTASTIC!!!!!
Janece says
Pardon my ignorance, but I haven't used flaxseed meal before. Can I just take my regular flaxseed and grind it into a "meal/flour"? Also, could wheat flour be substituted for oat flour?
Kare Raye says
Hi Janese, yes, just grind up some flaxseeds and you should be good to go! 🙂 I've not made these with wheat flour but I think it should work just fine in lieu of the oat flour. If you try it, please come back and let us know how it worked out!
April says
Made this yesterday and it was a hit! Everyone loved them. It smelled like Auntie Anne's pretzels in our house lol. It was dense and you can taste sweetness of the fruit and maple as well and the sunflower seeds. Once I poured the melted maple and cocunut oil in the mix, it smelled so heavenly! I think we'll try agave in substitute for maple to decrease the sugar a bit but otherwise, I'll be making more of these for sure! Thanks for sharing the recipe! Awesome step by step directions too!
Cathy says
Is it possible to get nutritional value list on these calories, etc.
Kare Raye says
Hi Cathy, we don't provide nutritional value lists here, but we do like the one found here: http://caloriecount.about.com/cc/recipe_analysis.php - it's very easy to use.
LynnD says
Remember to check ingredients on individual items such as dried fruit.
The apricots your show are very orange, which highly likely have been sulfured!
Learned when in 3rd grade that caused me to stop breathing. so we always bought
the "ugly" dried fruit after that, or Mom would dehydrate after dipping in vite C solution,
which came out a little less brownish.
I used to make these for me and my children years ago when had a food processor.
Now just chop by hand and mix together. Mixed ground carrots and onions and dehydrate for
little take along biscuits.
Natalie says
I have had Aussie bites from a bakery and wanted to try making my own. I liked the looks of this recipe because of its granola-like texture. I really like it and will make it a regular in my kitchen! One nice thing about this recipe is that it's easy to substitute based on what you have in your kitchen. So, here's what I used: flax seeds for the flaxseed meal; light olive oil for the coconut oil; dried mangoes for the dried apricots; and pepitas for the sunflower seeds. The bites had a lovely, crunchy texture, yet were a little soft in the middle, kind of like oatmeal cookies crossed with granola bars. Love them! Thanks for the inspiration, Kare!
Kare Raye says
Agreed; that's one reason why I love this recipe too! So glad you like them. Thank you Natalie!
Karen Farber says
So glad I found this recipe! I've been craving these little cookies for years now, and can't find them at costco anymore 🙁
Will be making my own soon!!
Lisa says
thanks for the recipe. I find the Aussie bites from Costço very sweet. With this recipe I can adjust the sweetness. With amount of maple syrup in your recipe, do the homemade Aussie bites turn as sweet as the ones from the Costco or little less sweet? Also the rolled oats in the recipe or load fashioned oats or quick cooking oats? Sorry, I have never baked with oats, so I don't know what rolled oats are?
Reading all the positive comments here, I am eager to try this recipe.
Lisa says
i had posted a question about oats few hours ago. I came back to see whether or not there is an answer to it. However, I don't see my comment here. Anyways, my question was - are the rolled oats instant / quick cooking oats or old fashioned oats? Thank you.
Waiting for the response to try this recipe.
Sarah says
If I'm not mistaken, I'm pretty sure rolled oats are sometimes referred to as old-fashioned oats. 🙂
Lisa says
Thanks Sarah. I do have the old fashioned oats in my pantry. Yippee, I can make these goodies now
Liz says
These look amazing! Thanks for sharing! Are they gluten free?
Wendy @ The Nomadic Vegan says
I'm married to an Aussie but have never heard of Aussie bites. I see another Aussie who commented above said the same. No matter, these sound terrific! I can't wait to make them. Maybe I'll even introduce them to my in-laws and start a new Aussie tradition in Australia.
Emma {Emma's Little Kitchen} says
I had all the ingredients to hand so whipped them up last night to snack on through the week... I'm not sure they will get us to Friday though... Fantastic!
Julie M. says
These are definite winner. Delish! I subbed expeller pressed canola oil for the coconut oil and almond flour for the oat flour. Otherwise I followed to a tee. Thanks for the delicious new snack!
Alicia says
Oh My Goodness!! Had been craving Aussie bites, but Costco is a 30 minute drive away, so I came upon your recipe online! These are just as good, if not even better! The outside is golden & crunchy and the inside is a bit chewy and it's absolutely delicious! Very easy to make and makes enough to last a couple of days 🙂 THANK YOU!!
Emily says
I LOVE THESE!!!! I just stopped eating refined sugar and wheat, so perfect timing!! I substituted dates for raisins just because I had dates oh and also I'm still addicted to sugar and they are sweeter... anyway, thank you so much!!
Chelsey says
Hi! With the recipe the way it is, is it considered gluten free? Thanks!
Anna says
What an awesome recipe!!!! I have to bake them every two weeks since I tried them the first time, about 2 months ago. My husband eats 2 everyday before his morning workout and he just loves them. Thanks for sharing
Jaime says
I never leave reviews, but these little bites are so good i just had to!! i love anything granola-ish and these totally hit the spot and my kids absolutely LOVE them. the 1st batch i made w/ the apricots, 2nd batch with dried (no sugar added) cherries-both were delicious! Awesome "on the go" snack for the whole family. thanks for sharing such a great recipe!
Gena says
Just made these today. I love the way they taste but mine won't stick together. What am I doing wrong?!? Anyone else experience this? Anyone have any suggestions?