The Damsel is a little annoyed at granola bars. They’re posers. They act like healthy food, but under that seeming innocence, calories lurk. Plenty of the ones you buy at the market are really candy bars, if you really want to be honest with yourself.
These granola bars are not guaranteed to be low-cal, but at least they are made of natural ingredients, without preservatives and other mysterious chemicals. And they cost much less than store-bought, so there’s that.
A more easily printable version of the recipe follows the pictures. (Cut and paste)
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Find an 8×8 cake pan. Line it with a piece of parchment paper, allowing it to lap over two of the sides. Spray the whole affair with cooking spray, including the sides of the pan not covered by the parchment paper.
In a large bowl, measure the oats (both the blended and the not-blended), sugar, salt, cinnamon, nuts and fruit.
Stir thoroughly until the cliques have been eliminated and all the ingredients are forced to be friends with each other, no matter their social status.
In a smaller bowl, combine all the rest of the ingredients: all the sticky, wet stuff. The Damsel used peanut butter because it exists in her house, but another type of nut butter would be yummy too. Perhaps even Nutella.
Sternly mix this into the large bowl of dry ingredients until everything is equally crumbly.
Press tightly into the prepared pan. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until it gets a bit of a suntan around the edges and across the top.
When the Damsel got to this point, she lost control and put a couple of handfuls of chocolate chips on the top of half of the hot bars. After the heat melted the chips, she spread them a bit with a knife, like frosting.
Cool for 15 minutes in the pan and attempt to fend off the children and menfolk who are now sniffing around your ankles. It’s gotta cool, baby. Waiting is agony, but somehow, some way, you’ll get through it.
Take the granola bars out of the pan in their parchment paper sling and let cool further on the rack.
Cool completely, as in COLD, as in Refrigerate Before Cutting, or you will experience the above pictured crumbling issues. Then you will regrettably have to eat the crumbles to destroy the evidence. The Damsel sincerely apologizes for the calories. Also, to help everything hold together better, next time the Damsel plans to try honey in place of the granulated sugar called for in the recipe.
On the right we have “Yummy.” On the left we have “Freaking Amazing and I Can’t Stop Eating These.”
Homemade Granola Bars (adapted from smittenkitchen)
1 2/3 cups rolled oats (the Damsel used regular but quick is okay)
1/2 cup granulated sugar (next time the Damsel will try honey here)
1/3 cup oats, blended on high in blender until floury
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts *
1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
6 tablespoons melted butter
1/4 cup honey or maple syrup
2 tablespoons light corn syrup
1 tablespoon water
Optional chocolate chips
*Suggestions: Dried cranberries, apricots, pecans, sunflower seeds, coconut, walnuts, sesame seeds, pepitas, dried apples or more chocolate chips. The Damsel used 1/4 cup sesame seeds, 1/2 cup dried cranberries, 1/2 cup raisins, 1 heaping cup pecans and 1/2 cup dried coconut flakes.
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to lap over the opposing sides. Lightly spray the parchment paper and the exposed pan with non-stick spray.
Mix dry ingredients and wet/sticky ingredients in separate bowls, then combine. Press into prepared pan.
Bake the bars for 35-40 minutes, until golden brown around the edges. Cool completely before cutting.
