A New Granola Bar Recipe

I made granola bars about 6 months ago and didn't like them at all. I have finally decided to try my go at them again, this time with a different recipe.... Can I say SUCCESS!!! I didn't use protein power and my additives were craisins, almonds, and flax seed. This is a must try.

Peanut Butter and Honey Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Old Fashioned Oats
• 2 tbsp of your favorite “chaser”: such as millet (shown), flax seed, flax seed meal, wheat germ, etc. (optional)
• 1/4 cup of Soy Protein powder (optional, but gives nutritional boost)
• 1/2 cup Smooth Peanut Butter (I use natural/organic)
• 1/2 cup Honey
• 1 tbsp Brown Sugar (optional, I don’t need it, but my husband prefers it)
• 1/2 cup of your favorite “additives”: sunflower seeds, raisins, cranberries, dried blueberries, figs, almonds, pecans, whatever your heart contents
• 1 tsp salt (optional, don’t use if you are using salted butter or salted nuts already)

Preheat your oven to 400F. Prepare a small saucepan with the honey, peanut butter, and brown sugar (if using)

Take this time to get out a 9×9 baking dish and line with parchment paper. Also set out a cooling rack.

Spread the oats (and chaser if needing toasting, such as millet or almonds) onto a deep dish baking pan. Place pan into oven. Turn the saucepan onto low to med-low heat. You want the mixture to get warm and combine smoothly, but be careful not to burn or simmer. You know your stovetop best to know what setting will work to accomplish this.

While the oats are toasting, prepare the additives into a medium sized mixing bowl and coat with protein powder (if using). Be sure to watch the oats carefully, they don’t taste good when they get burnt. Take out of oven when they are a golden brown. This takes about 5-10 minutes for me, usually around 7 minutes.

When oats are done, carefully add to the medium bowl with the additives. On top of this, add the peanut honey mixture. Mix well with a wooden spoon. This will take a bit of muscle work, but it is possible to combine it all together.

Plop the mixture into the baking dish lined with parchment paper and spread evenly into baking dish. The bars are ~1/4″ in depth when spread correctly. Carefully lift out parchment paper from baking dish and let cool on baking rack. After about 30 minutes (or cool to touch, I like to flip the block over to cool more evenly.