organized chaos posted these chewy granola bars over on Zombie. I've made them twice, the first is the original, the second I changed around a bit.
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Homemade Granola Bars
Ø 2 cups quick cooking rolled oats
Ø 1 cup flour
Ø ¾ cup packed brown sugar
Ø ¾ cup dried cranberries
Ø ½ cup wheat germ
Ø ½ teasp salt
Ø ½ teasp ground cinnamon
Ø ½ c chopped pecans
Ø ½ cup vegetable oil
Ø ½ cup honey
Ø 1 large egg
Ø 2 t vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.
In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. I use rubber gloves for this. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Make sure it is packed in tightly.
Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
Notes
They freeze well (wrap them up two bars to a bag for an easy trail snack out of the freezer.) Yes, they are high in fat, but if you are hiking hard, you will burn it off. And they are better for you than a candy bar. These bars take well to using applesauce or baby prunes as part of the oil. Any nut can be used, and feel to change the fruit or add chocolate chips, etc to the batter. These bars are dang good- no matter how you change the recipe. With homemade items try to eat your product within 3-4 days of baking it. Most homemade items can be frozen safely in advance (cut into individual portions, wrap, and store in large freezer bags.) Most frozen items are good for 1-2 months in a freezer.
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Homemade Granola Bars -- my variation, Leah
Ø 2 cups old fashioned oats
Ø 1 cup flour
Ø ¾ cup packed brown sugar
Ø 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup choc chips, and 1/2 cup raisins (chopped in the Magic Bullet)
Ø ½ cup wheat germ
Ø ½ teasp salt
Ø ½ teasp ground cinnamon
Ø 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Ø 1 Tablespoon flax seed
_,½ cup vegetable oil
Ø ½ cup honey
Ø 1 large egg
Ø 2 t vanilla extract
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.
In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. I use rubber gloves for this. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Make sure it is packed in tightly.
Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.
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With the flax seed, whole grains and dried fruit, these are very good for... ahem, shall we say - bowel issues? LOL
I made them again.
I chopped the 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup choc chips, and 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/4 cup toasted almonds until it was like jam, and added it that way.
It was even better; moist and every bite was fruit-filled. I'll be making them that way from now on.
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