Granola Bars Recipe
The reason I call them great granola bars cause’ just before yesterday I hadn’t met a home made granola bar that I liked. I knew there was potential yet all the recipes I had tried so far had turned out to be just edible when they came out of the oven and the next day. And after that they just kinda lay there. I almost had to peddle them to my kids and hubby “arre if you’re hungry toh granola bar khaa lo” (eat the granola bar if you’re hungry). And just like that they weren’t hungry any more.
I have bought the store bought ones, but the ingredient list scares me. No thanks, I don’t want the corn syrup and all these weird chemical names that I can’t pronounce. I’m just looking for some plain old oats and dried fruits and honey perhaps?
After all, these very ingredients make it healthy! The oats are high in fiber and dried fruits are full of nutrition and energy. The nuts add the protein factor and yallah... it’s the perfect pick me up for any one who’s working out as well as nutritious treats for the kiddos when they come back from school.
My little ones, at the moment, are terrified of granola bars. All thanks to some of the recipes I tried out from allrecipes.com. The biggest difference between those and the recipe I made last night is that of the “pre-toasting of oats and nuts”. If a granola recipe calls for all the ingredients to be mixed and then baked- DO NOT trust that recipe. It’s totally faking it. The granola bar will be bland and blah...
This recipe, on the other hand makes nutty, toasty and crunchy granola bars! What, only one ounce of butter? Perfecto!
Sunday nights is usually when I bake something like a sweet snack or a breakfast time treats to last through the week. Last night being the end of the long weekend, I was thinking about heading down to the kitchen…and then it struck me...Alton brown had made granola bars on his show Good Eats once. I looked it up at the foodnetwork.com and lo and behold it was there! I have a certain amount of faith in Alton Browns’ recipes. His precision for detail, scientific explanations and rather quirky sense of humor has made me watch the show Good Eats very often. In general, he seems to know what he’s doing.
Here is the recipe…that I followed with a few minor changes.
I used steel cut oats quick cooking oats. Also left out the wheat germ and added ½ cup of flax seeds when I added the oat mixture to the liquid mixture. I also toasted the oats and nuts for about 10 minutes instead of 15 like he recommends. It seemed like enough as any more toasting time would’ve burned the almonds. So have a look after 10 minutes after toasting in the oven and go from there. For the dried fruit, I used dates. But really, you can use whatever you like. At some point, I will make this with peanut butter and chocolate chips. But that’s another blog.
By Bharti
Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
- 1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
- 3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
- 1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
- 6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
- 1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
- 1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries
Method
Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week. Oh, and I found this very episode on youtube. Do watch even if you're not planning to make these. A very informative episode!
Well... Bunty and I have been munching on these bars since last night. I even crumbled it up and had it with milk as a cereal and it’s wonderful. The kids? I think their scars from those blah bars run too deep. They refused to even try these nice guys.
Sigh... looks like it’ll take a while...
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