Hello, long lost friends (I guess I am the one who has been long and lost?). It has been so long since I posted something! But I am back, and hopefully these granola bars will make up for my absence :)
As usual, with many of the things that I post these can be customized to your taste. To take the guess work out for you I broke the ingredients list in two: base and add ins.
The base ingredients I would not change, but the add ins you can change to however you see fit - just don't go over the total measurements of add ins or else the bars may be too dry, but going under would be fine. I have literally made these bars with random odds and ends ingredients I had in the pantry just to use them up!
As usual, with many of the things that I post these can be customized to your taste. To take the guess work out for you I broke the ingredients list in two: base and add ins.
The base ingredients I would not change, but the add ins you can change to however you see fit - just don't go over the total measurements of add ins or else the bars may be too dry, but going under would be fine. I have literally made these bars with random odds and ends ingredients I had in the pantry just to use them up!
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
4 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant espresso power or instant coffee (optional)
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup softened butter
4 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant espresso power or instant coffee (optional)
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
Base Ingredients:
Add ins:
Here are the add ins I used this time:
1 cup of almonds chopped
1 cup of walnuts chopped
2 cups of dark chocolate chips
2 cups of dried cherries
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
1 cup of almonds chopped
1 cup of walnuts chopped
2 cups of dark chocolate chips
2 cups of dried cherries
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
These granola bars start out like any good cookie recipe, which can't be a bad thing right? Cream the butter and sugar together until it is light and fluffy.
Add in the honey. Tip for measuring sticky things, if you spray the measuring tool with cooking spray the sticky stuff will come out clean. (Please ignore my chipped nail polish)
The add the vanilla extract.
And the eggs
And mix them with the butter and sugar until it is combined.
Measure out your dry ingredients: flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, and instant espresso/coffee.
Mix them together until it is uniform.
Add it to your butter, sugar, egg mixture and mix. You don't need to mix it completely since it will finish mixing when you add the other ingredients.
Measure out your add ins in another bowl. the chocolate chips got covered by the nuts and cherries but trust me they are there.
Add the add ins to the butter, sugar, egg, and dry ingredients. And mix until the add ins look well distributed.
Finally add the oats.
And, you guess it, mix it up.
Take a sheet pan, this one is 12x18 inches and grease the pan with cooking spray or butter. You can also cut the recipe in half, if you do so a 9x13 inch pan will work.
Dump the granola mixture onto the pan.
Spread out with your hands or a spatula, until it is an even thickness.
Bake in the over at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. I cooked mine a little bit longer than I should have but they still came out great! Let the bars cool and then cut into the size that you want. Sometimes I do rectangles other times square, the choice is yours. As a side note these freeze really well.
Add in options:
Like I said before you can literally put in just about anything you want. I have not done this, but if you wanted to add a nut butter, I believe this could be done. I would just cut some of the butter and substitute for the nut butter. This is a very forgiving recipe, meaning you can play around and experiment with it a lot and still end up with that perfect granola bar texture.
Nuts:
Whatever nuts you use, you just want to make sure they are chopped up. I personally prefer unsalted and I do not toast them before hand because I feel they get toasty enough when baking.
Almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia, hazel, cashews, peanuts, pine, pistachios.
Almonds, walnuts, pecans, macadamia, hazel, cashews, peanuts, pine, pistachios.
Dried fruit:
Raisins, cranberries, cherries, blueberries, coconut. Figs, dates, prunes, apricots, pineapple, any of these would need to be cut up smaller.
Chips and other things:
Chocolate (dark, milk, semi-sweet, white), peanut butter, cinnamon, butterscotch chips. Mini M&Ms, broken up pretzels, orange zest, cocoa powder, rice cereal. The pretzels and rice cereal I would add at the same time as the oats so they wouldn't get broken up too much, the orange zest in the beginning with the butter and sugar, and the cocoa powder with the dry ingredients.
Seeds:
Same with the nuts, I use unsalted and do not toast. Pumpkin, sunflowers, chia, flax, sesame, poppy, hemp.
Full directions:
Ingredients:
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
4 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant espresso power or instant coffee (optional)
1 cup of almonds chopped
1 cup of walnuts chopped
2 cups of dark chocolate chips
2 cups of dried cherries
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl cream together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add honey, vanilla extract, and eggs. Beat until well combined. In a separate bowl mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, instant espresso/coffee. Add the dry to wet ingredients and mix just short of fully incorporated. Mix in the almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips, dried cherries and pumpkin seeds until evenly distributed. Add in the rolled oats and mix until combined.
Dump ingredients onto a greased 12x18 inch pan and spread out until uniform thickness.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely and cut into bars.
Enjoy!
2 cups brown sugar
1 cup softened butter
4 tablespoons honey
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 large eggs
2 cups all purpose flour
2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoons instant espresso power or instant coffee (optional)
1 cup of almonds chopped
1 cup of walnuts chopped
2 cups of dark chocolate chips
2 cups of dried cherries
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
In a bowl cream together brown sugar and butter until light and fluffy. Add honey, vanilla extract, and eggs. Beat until well combined. In a separate bowl mix flour, cinnamon, baking soda, salt, instant espresso/coffee. Add the dry to wet ingredients and mix just short of fully incorporated. Mix in the almonds, walnuts, chocolate chips, dried cherries and pumpkin seeds until evenly distributed. Add in the rolled oats and mix until combined.
Dump ingredients onto a greased 12x18 inch pan and spread out until uniform thickness.
Bake for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown. Allow to cool completely and cut into bars.
Enjoy!