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.