I eat too many pre-made, overly packaged, expensive granola bars, luna bars, cliff bars etc. In an effort to curb this habit and because I love Alton Brown I have tried both his protein bars (totally forgot to post it) and most recently his granola bars. The granola bars turned out great. I was afraid they weren't going to stay together but that wasn't the case at all. Since it isn't really a "baked good" with scientific principles governing the outcome you can sub out different nuts, toss in a little whole grain flour, add shredded coconut, chocolate chips, you get the idea. I didn't have enough honey so I replaced half of the honey with coconut butter. I looked into some variations after I made these and it seems as though you could get away without baking them at the end and it might result in a chewy version. I might try that next.
~2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
~1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
~1/2 cup raw pumpkins seeds
~1 cup sliced almonds
~1/2 cup wheat germ
~1/2 cup honey
~1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar
~2 tsp unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
~1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruit, any combination (I used cherries, golden raisins, blueberries and cranberries)
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
- Butter 9x11 baking dish and set aside.
- Spread the oats, seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. (Be careful not to burn these)
- Combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat the brown sugar has dissolved.
- When the oat/seed/nut mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F.
- Immediately add the dry mixture to the sugar/honey mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine.
- Dump the mixture into the prepared baking dish and press down.
- Bake for 25 minutes.
- When done, remove pan from the oven and allow to cool completely. (This is very true I tried to cut one early and it fell apart)
- Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
Kim,
ReplyDeleteI just made these last night, yum! What a great snack to bring to work. I used dates and raisons for the fruit, and for the nuts I used sunflower seeds, walnuts, flax seeds, and a little bit of shredded coconut I had leftover from my chicken birthday cake, although now that I think about it, I guess coconut is more of a fruit than a nut. Anyway, they turned out delicious, if a bit hard to get out of the pan. Nice and chewy and hold together really well. I wonder if I could cut down on the honey (expensive) without them falling apart?
-Stephanie