My KIND of Granola Bars

I have a particular MO when it comes to baking. I get in the mood for something, usually some healthier (and magically lower calorie) version of an old favorite. Once I've searched and found a couple good recipes I bookmark them and make plans to bake. Inevitably next I realize I don't need baked goods and neither does anyone else here. I have plenty of opportunity to bake for others but somehow I think of this just after an opportunity and then forget by the time the next chance arrives. In the end I'm left with quite a few bookmarked recipes and nothing more.

This time I decided to act. I wasn't looking for a baked good as much as a protein packed snack for J. He loves cookies, ah don't we all, and I'm looking to sneak things like flax and protein into something cookie-like. I've been calling these "granola cookies" for him and hope that means granola gets added to his list of yummy things.

I was inspired by the Kind bars. I wanted something very plain but with smaller nut pieces for J. I googled "kitchen sink" muffins, cookies and granola and looked through a surprisingly large number of recipes before coming upon the one I ended up using. My version below is adapted from this recipe over at The Lunchbox Bunch.

Below is my version of the recipe. I anticipate these will be making an appearance at many parks and playgrounds this spring and summer. They were our snack at the zoo today. All J could say last night and again today was "nom, nom, yummy." It's all the feedback I need, and I completely agree with him!



My KIND of Granola Bars

2 C. oats

1/3 C. Maple Syrup
1/3 C. Honey
1/4 C. brown sugar
5 Tbsp butter or margarine
1/4 C. Flax seed meal
1/4 C. wheat germ

1 1/2 C. Dried fruit assortment

1 C. Unsweetened shredded coconut (or more fruit/grains)

1 1/2 C. Chopped nuts (assorted)

1/2 C. Seeds (sunflower, sesame, poppy, etc.)

1 Tbsp Vanilla extract

1 1/2 tsp spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, and pumpkin pie spice)
1 1/2 C. chocolate chips
1/2 tsp salt
*adjust salt based on how many of your nuts are pre-salted

spray canola or olive oil




Directions:



1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees.



2. Layer parchment paper or foil in a casserole dish (or grease the insides with canola or olive oil).



3. Over low heat, toast your flax seed meal, wheat germ and coconut in a dry pan for about 1 minute. Transfer toasted meal to large mixing bowl.

4. Add oats to dry pan and toast for about 2 minutes; then transfer to bowl with other toasted ingredients.

5. Measure fruit and seed ingredients and place in large mixing bowl. Toss well.

6. Place pan (used to toast ingredients) over medium heat. Add the butter/margarine, liquid and dry sweeteners, vanilla extract, salt and cinnamon. Heat until it has melted together and becomes bubbly. Pour the hot liquid into the mixing bowl. Stir well until the mixture is thick, firm and well combined.



7. Pour the entire mixture into your lined casserole dish. Add any toppings (chocolate/crushed nuts/other).

8. Bake at 300 degrees for 35 minutes.


9. Allow to cool for one hour before slicing into bars. Allow to fully cool in fridge for storage. Bars will become chewy and firm in a cold fridge.

Makes one casserole (9x12) sized pan of bars.


I altered the ingredient list to what I had on-hand, and to my general preferences. These bars are nearly vegan and if you replace the honey with agave nectar and use margarine they will be completely vegan. I also changed the prep a bit. I can say one thing from both the original recipe and my version is that cooling in the refrigerator until the bars are completely cool (about 1 hour) is crucial. If you don't cool them you will have granola, very yummy granola but it won't retain the bar shape.

One thing I changed in this recipe that I will not do again, was that I added chocolate chips to the mixing bowl of ingredients and that created a sort of no-baked cookie taste because the chocolate melted. Next time I will add them as a topping so the chips maintain their form. The only other negative was that these bars are significantly crumblier than the Kind bars. I'll have to work on that in future batches.

Speaking of future batches, I plan to try different versions of these. Next up will be a tropical version with more coconut, tropical fruit, tropical nuts (definitely some macadamias), and maybe even some citrus zest. After that I'm going to try to create a nice sweet but salty peanut butter version. I'm thinking of North Star's peanut butter cookies as my goal. Adjust these however you like, the possibilities are limited only by your imagination! ENJOY!