Friday, August 10, 2012

Homemade Chewy Granola Bars



In keeping with August's theme, Snacks From Scratch, I present to you "my" homemade granola bar recipe!  I tried about four different recipes before I settled on this one.  The "losers" weren't bad, but this was was definitely our favorite...and I probably won't ever buy granola bars again!

Tammy from Tammy's Recipes posted this recipe for Chewy Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.  I mostly followed the recipe, but made a few changes.  First, I substituted 1/4 C of ground flaxseed for 1/4 C of the whole wheat flour.  Why?  Well, because I already had ground flaxseed in the house (another granola bar recipe I tried had called for it).  Oh, and because it's good for you!  I also used mini chocolate chips instead of the full-sized ones, but you could substitute any sort of "mix-in" for the chocolate chips...raisins, dried cherries, coconut, almonds, etc. to customize your granola bar.  I am posting the full recipe here since I changed it up a bit.

Ingredients:
3/4 C (1 1/2 sticks) butter, softened
1/2 C honey
1/3 C brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
3/4 C whole wheat flour

1/4 C ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking soda
4 1/2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 C mini chocolate chips OR any mix-in such as coconut, raisins, etc.


Directions:
Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a medium-size mixing bowl, cream together the butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla extract.  Add flour, flaxseed, baking soda, and oats. Stir until well-mixed. (Use a wooden spoon or other heavy-duty utensil for this.)  Stir in chocolate chips or other mix-ins.  Line a 9x13 pan with parchment paper, or lightly grease it.  Press mixture into the pan.  Bake at 325 degrees for 18-22 minutes, until edges are just starting to brown. Bars will puff up and look like a regular brownie-type bar.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.  After granola bars have cooled for 10 minutes, use a smooth-bottomed measuring cup or glass to press the bars flat. (I put a piece of wax paper over the bars and then press them flat to avoid smearing the chocolate.) Allow to finish cooling and then cut into 18 or 24 bars using a pizza cutter or thin sharp knife.

Options and Tips:
  • If you don't have ground flaxseed in the house and you don't want to buy it, just use a full cup of whole wheat flour.
  • Tammy recommends cutting the pan into 18 bars, but these bars are extremely filling, so I cut ours into 24.  To form that classic granola bar shape, start on the short side of the 9x13 pan and cut 5 long lines to form six long strips.  Then, starting on the long side of the pan, make 2 or 3 short cuts across the pan so that each strip is cut into 3 or 4 bars, depending on how many bars you want to make.
  • Tammy says that these bars keep for up to a week at room temperature, but on our recent trip to Colorado, these bars travelled well, and then kept for over 2 weeks without a noticeable change in taste.  The texture was slightly less chewy and a little more crumbly after 2 weeks, but still acceptable.
This recipe is based on this one from Tammy's Recipes.

7 comments:

  1. Yeah! I've been waiting for this one! Can't wait to try it.

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  2. Yum--I would like to try these. I am looking for healthy/easy/inexpensive options to put in Nathan's lunch box.

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  3. Do you think you could freeze these? Or have you ever tried it? Thanks!

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    1. I have never tried freezing them but the original recipe over at Tammy's Recipes says that you can, in fact, freeze them. These bars don't go bad too quickly...see my comment in the "options & tips" above about keeping them for almost two weeks.

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    2. I did end up freezing some of mine and it worked GREAT! :)

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  4. FANTASTIC!!! I recently made some "crunchy" granola bars, they were good as well ~ but I wanted to make be able to find a more "chewy" granola bar that I liked as much. I saw these and LOVED the idea of pressing the bars down, they were delicious! I will be making them again and again and I WILL be sharing this recipe and linking back to you!!!! THANKS!

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  5. Absolutely wonderful! Thanks for a great recipe!

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