granola nut bars

Since I’ve started greens & chocolate, I’ve made quite a few granola bar recipes.  Have I posted any of them?  Nah.  Why not?  They just weren’t good enough.  For me, finding the perfect granola bar recipe was kind of like how every baker is looking for their perfect chocolate chip cookie (I’ve already found mine, so that’s taken care of).  Also like the search for the perfect CCC, every recipe I tried was pretty good…but not the one.  Until now.  I finally found what I was looking for in a granola bar.  


So let’s talk about what I wanted in my perfect granola bar.  First of all, I wanted it to stick together, and not fall into pieces when I tried to eat it.  I found that a lot of recipes which call for all oats and no flour have this problem.  Also, the recipes that aren’t baked seem to turn into granola bites as opposed to granola bars.  Next, I wanted them to be stuffed with tons of good-for-you things like nuts and dried fruit.  This is probably the only time in the history of my life that I haven’t wanted chocolate in a recipe.  Lastly, I wanted the granola bars to be chewy, not crunchy.  Or at least more chewy than crunchy.  I wasn’t sure about this part…but I knew I would know it when I ate it.  Sorry if you had to read that last part about 3 times to understand it.  Moving on…


So yes, I found it!  Little did you know, I’ve been testing, tweaking, and coming up with my perfect granola bar recipe for the past 5 months and now I feel like I finally have a recipe that I can share with you all.  On top of being all of the things described above, my favorite part about these bars are the different types of nuts and seeds.  The almonds are an absolute must along with the pumpkin and sunflower seeds.  I have made them with and without the dried fruit and they are great either way…it all comes down to person preference.  They are perfect for a quick breakfast on-the-go or a healthy snack during the day, and as if they couldn’t get any better, they are good for you too!  What more could you ask for?! 

Granola Nut Bars


2 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
2/3 cup all purpose or whole wheat flour
1 cup mix-ins of your choice (I used almonds, cranberries, sunflower seeds, golden raisins and pumpkin seeds)
3/4 tsp salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, lightly beaten
1/4 cup vegetable oil
2 tsp vanilla


Directions:


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Grease 9×13″ baking dish.


In a large bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, flour, and your mix-ins.  In separate small bowl, whisk together the salt, honey, egg, oil, and vanilla.  Pour into dry ingredients and stir well to combine.


Press the mixture evenly into prepared pan.  Bake for 25 minutes.  Cool bars.  The recipe I adapted these from said to cut before they cool, or they will be too hard to cut.  However, I did not do this and waited until the next day to cut them and they were not hard at all to cut.

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