If you have a Trader Joe’s in your area and you haven’t tried their 5 seed almond bars, I highly recommend you pick some up! My mother in law introduced me to this delicious treat, and I am obsessed. My son LOVES them, and it is always a really nice surprise when she decides to leave a few behind at our house after watching the little one. One of these bars in the morning with your cup of coffee is the perfect breakfast, and for me, they never get old.
I have been wanting to attempt recreating these bars for the longest time, and I finally got around to it on this rainy weekend. It wasn’t my plan for today. I woke up with a brilliant idea that I was going to go to T.J. Maxx and do all of my Christmas shopping. ALL OF IT. I was determined. It seems like November and December just get busier every year, and I was hoping to get ahead of the game and reduce some holiday stress. Well folks, don’t ever go to a T.J Maxx on a Saturday if you don’t love a crowd. I ended up having a mild panic attack, ditching my cart, and leaving empty handed in less than two minutes. Thank God Dylan wasn’t with me, or he may have just passed out on the floor. We are only a tiny bit dramatic when it comes to going shopping. Since I basically just drove all the way across town to turn around and come home, my little one was still napping when I made it back. I decided to make these delicious bars to redeem my rainy Saturday!
These bars are so easy to make, but you probably don’t have what you need lying around in the pantry. If you do, I am really impressed. It is a bit of an investment upfront to purchase all the ingredients, but the good news is that once you do, you’ll be stocked to make these almond bars again and again. The texture of this bar is a little different than the originals, but I love the way they turned out. The flavor is definitely there, and I can’t wait for my mother in law to try one. I hope you will too! In the meantime, go pick up a pack at Trader Joe’s.
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5 Seed Almond Bars (Trader Joe’s Copycat)
- Total Time: 40 minutes
- Yield: 16 bars 1x
Description
Soft and chewy bars made with whole wheat flour and packed with five different seeds (flax, pumpkin, poppy, sunflower, and brown sesame) This a Trader Joe’s copycat recipe. Healthy and delicious!
Ingredients
To be processed:
- 2/3 cup almonds
- 4 pitted medjool dates
Dry ingredients:
- 2 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1 1/2 teaspoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon cloves
- 1/2 teaspoon table salt
Wet ingredients:
- 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 2 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 tablespoon vegetable oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Mix ins:
- 1/4 cup rolled old fashioned oats
- 1 tablespoon honey
- 2 tablespoons pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoons sunflower seeds
- 2 teaspoons flax seeds
- 2 teaspoons poppy seeds
- 2 teaspoons brown sesame seeds
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease a 9 x 13 inch baking dish with non-stick cooking spray or vegetable oil.
- Process the almonds and dates on high speed in a food processor for around 10 seconds, then set aside.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, corn starch, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, and salt).
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, add the melted butter, vegetable oil, brown sugar, and granulated sugar. Beat on medium speed until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs to the wet ingredients (one at a time) and mix until just combined.
- Reduce the mixer speed to low and add the vanilla followed by the dry ingredients. Add the dry ingredients a little at a time until fully incorporated.
- Add the reserved almond/date mixture and “mix-ins” (oats, honey, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, flax seeds, poppy seeds, and brown sesame seeds) and continue to mix on low speed until evenly combined.
- Spread the batter evenly in the baking dish.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Place the pan on a cooling rack on the counter and allow to cool for 10 minutes, cut the bars, remove from the pan and allow to continue cooling on the rack for as long as you care to wait 😉
Equipment
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Cuisineart 14-Cup Food Processor
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Notes
- This recipe is easy, but there are A LOT of ingredients. Make sure you gather everything you need before you get started.
- Oven temperatures can vary. Check the bars around 15 minutes, but bake until you can insert a toothpick and remove it dry.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Bars
- Method: Baked
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: almond, seeds, bars
could you replace chia seed for poppy seeds?
Most definitely!! Let me know if you give it a try 😊
Not exactly a copy cat. TJ calories is 100 per bar.
★★★
😆 such a fair point! I didn’t even think about the calorie content, and was just going for flavor. I’ll have to play around with them and see if I can cut the calories. Thank you for pointing that out! Did you try the bars? I’d love to get more feedback.
Ok, so yummy! Better than the TJ bars in my opinion!
★★★★★
Yay! Love these bars so much. Last time I went to the store they were out so I’m glad I have this recipe ☺️ thanks for giving them a try!
Can you use almond butter and date paste instead? I don’t have a food processor 🙁
What a great idea!! I’ve never worked with date paste so I don’t really know the consistency. I will pick some up and check it out. Let me know if you give it a try in the meantime. I’m sorry I can’t be more helpful right now, but thanks for checking out the recipe!☺️
Delicious. I don’t have a processor or a mixer so I did it all by hand. The batter was very dry…once I poured it in the pan I had to press it firmly to get it to stay together. It turned out great after 15-17 minutes in the oven. Not soft and chewy, but very tasty.
This was absolutely brilliant. Thanks for a great recipe. The flavor was spot on! I used less flour to keep things moist and processed everything a bit more in the food processor. I’ve always wondered about the fish oil in their ingredient list. I’ll try it next time with a splash of fish sauce and let you know the results. Or Worcestershire Sauce.
★★★★★
You absolutely made my day. I appreciate so much that you took the time to comment. I haven’t had much time for posting recipes or working on the blog lately and it really brought me joy to know that you enjoyed the bars! Thanks so much.
We have made them twice and both times they have come out dry. TJs is more moist. I feel like I need to drink something with them. However the taste is spot on. Can you suggest how make these not as dry. Thanks
Hi Diana! Thank you for making the recipe and for taking the time to give some feedback. The original recipe had more oil, but another user commented on the calorie content and I changed it up a bit. I saw someone mentioned using a little less flour to keep them moist. My first thought is to add some applesauce. Maybe start with 1/2 cup and see how that goes. Let me know what you find and I’ll keep working on it from my end too 🙂
The ingredient list on the TJ package lists raisin paste as one of the first few ingredients, but it’s not in your recipe. Seems to me it would taste quite a bit different using date paste in place of raisin paste. Is there a reason for the substitution?
Brenda, thank you so much for your question. so interesting. It has been a while since I created the recipe, but I’m 99% certain there used to be dates in the TJ bars. I don’t think I would have made that substitution. Raisins would be a lot easier to get and less expensive. If you try them out, let me know what you think. I really need to make this one again. It has been a while. I appreciate you visiting the site. Happy New Year 🙂
I used raisins and smashed them since the TJs ingredients does say raisin paste. He flavor really is perfect. I just need to figure out how to moisten it. I’m wondering if molasses might be a good ingredient to add. I also subbed date powder sugar instead of white sugar. Just to make it a bit more healthy.
Thanks so much for trying the bars. I’m so happy to hear you liked them! I’m going to make them with raisins next time. My original version had more oil, but someone commented that they had quite a few more calories than TJs version. You could try to add some additional oil, but let me know if you try out the molasses! I’d love to hear how it goes.