Granola Bars

We are always looking for a good granola bar recipe, mostly because we never buy them but always seem to want them.  Last summer I made some, and they were okay, but they were super sticky and it took us a while to eat them.  This summer, I stumbled upon this recipe (a basic granola bar recipe), which I modified slightly for the first batch.  The first time around I made cranberry white chocolate granola bars with some sunflower seeds added.  They were a hit, and within a week they were gone.

Cranberry White Chocolate Granola Bars
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1/8 cup sunflower seeds

1/2 cup craisins
1 cup white chocolate chips
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
11 T butter, melted
1 egg
1 t vanilla

In a large bow mix oats and nuts.  Spread them evenly into a jelly roll pan, and bake in a preheated 350 oven for 15-20 minutes.

Mix the rest of the ingredients in a bowl (I just the same bowl that I mixed the granola in).  Make sure to let the butter cool a little after it has melted so that it doesn't cook the egg.  

When the granola is done, dump into the bowl and mix well.  I found that mixing with my hands worked much better than with the spoon (although MUCH messier).

Grease jelly roll pan and press the mixture FIRMLY into the pan.  The more firmly it is packed, the less likely the granola bars will be to fall apart.  I used the paper from the butter to press the granola so it wouldn't stick to my hands, next time I think I will use a glass 9x13 pan.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until edges are golden brown.  I baked mine for about 25 minutes until the top was golden brown (mostly because I couldn't see well in the kitchen).

Remove from oven and allow to cool.  Cut into desired size.  I cut the bars in half so that I had two long, narrower pieces of granola bar, then each of those halves into 9 or 10 pieces.  Each bar was wrapped individually in plastic wrap then stored in a gallon-sized zipper bag.

These were a HUGE hit in the house.  Putting in a little extra work up front (by wrapping them individually) made it super easy to grab one on the go.

**As I was writing this post, I was working on our second batch of granola bars.  This time we decided on peanut butter with some chocolate.  I used the same basic recipe, with a few minor changes.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars with Chocolate Drizzle
3 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup sliced almonds
1 cup honey roasted peanuts

1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
6 T butter, melted
5 T peanut butter, melted
1 egg
1 t vanilla

These turned out even better than the first time around.  I used a greased 9x9 glass pan in order to press the granola bar mixture into the jelly roll pan, which resulted in a bar that didn't fall apart nearly as quickly as the first batch.  These also weren't nearly as sweet as the first batch.  We didn't realize just how sweet they were originally, but once we tasted these, we knew we had a winner.