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Saturday, November 15, 2008

Make Your Own Granola Bars

My toddler eats granola bars like there is no other food worthy of masticating.

So I first used this recipe from Allrecipes and made my own. Pretty simple, but I couldn't beat it by hand so I used the mixer. And I put it into 2 9x13 pans instead of one. I put in toffee and chocolate chips, Yum! Makes quite a batch! That's a gallon sized ziploc bag.


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UPDATE : I have fiddled with the recipe, I sorta halved it. This way I can make smaller batches. Here is what I do now:

2 1/4 cup oats
1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup softened butter
1/3 cup honey
3 T brown sugar (I have left this out when add-ins are sugary such as chocolate or coconut with success)
1 cup mix-ins (or 1/2 and 1/2 or with peanut butter/chocolate 1/3 PB and 2/3 chocolate chips, etc.)

Lightly grease one 9x13 pan. Mix all ingredients with mixer. Press mix flat using buttered spoon or fingers. Bake 325 for 20 minutes til browning around edges. Take out of oven and press down again. Let cool and cut into bars. I cut in thirds width wise and cut in quarters lengthwise making 12 bars.

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They are not exactly as soft as the ones at the grocery store, but they aren't like the hard and crunchy ones either.

Flavors I have tried:

Chocolate chips and toffee bits - really couldn't taste the toffee :( (1/2 & 1/2)
sunflower seeds and almonds(1/2 & 1/2)
graham cracker crumbs, chocolate chips and marshmallows (thirds)
chocolate chips and coconut (1/2 & 1/2)
Peanut butter and chocolate chips (1/3 to 2/3)
Chocolate chips and almonds (1/2 & 1/2)
Macadamia Nuts and Chopped Dates (1/2 & 1/2)
Craisins and Almonds
Coconut and Almonds
Chopped Dates and Almonds - my favorite so far!
Coconut and Dehydrated Strawberries

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

That's so cool! I can't wait to try it. Only I'll have to decrease the recipe to fit in my toaster oven!!

At Last said...

yum! i should try doing this. my son eats granola bars 2 at a time. the last ones i bought were the stop and shop chewy ones $2 for i think ten bars in the box. really small bars though!! how much does it cost to make these from scratch?? i'll bet they are healthier too.