Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Whole Wheat Granola Bars

So, I am still working on making this recipe prefect, but here is what I have so far for my granola bars. I think they are delicious! I know they are not the healthiest granola bars you can find out there, but these are budget-friendly and still more healthy and delicious than store-bought.

(I adapted this recipe from http://www.allrecipes.com/)

*This makes A LOT of granola bars...I think they freeze pretty well so I make a lot and freeze them*

*Also, it is hard to cook them just right. I personally like the bars soft so I cook them until they are a golden on the edges.*

*I also like them pretty thick. For this recipe, I take my big Sam's club cookie sheet and spread the mixture out so it covers a little over 3/4 of the pan. If you fill the whole pan, I think that they are too thin*

4.5 c. rolled oats
1/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. wheat germ
1.5 Tb cinnamon (or whatever to your liking)
1.5 c. whole wheat flour
1/2 raisins
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 c. honey
3 egg, beaten
2 c. applesauce
2 tsp. vanilla

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, wheat germ, cinnamon, flour, raisins, and salt. Make a well in the center and pour in the honey, eggs, oil, and vanilla. Mix well using your hands. Pat the mixture evenly into a pan.
3. Bake for 23 - 30 min. until the bars begin to golden on the edges. Cool for 5 min and then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow bars to cool completely before cutting or they will be too hard to cut.

3 comments:

  1. First, thank you for creating this blog! I'm so excited. And I'm way excited to try this recipe!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Girls, Awesome blog! I love your recipies!! Jannie, being that I have a granola bar hog (Jude) living in my house I too found a recipie that that I tweaked a little here and there to make some good granola bars... It is very simular to your recipie so I thought I would share it with you if you ever wanted to try it.
    Mix together:
    2 c. Oats
    1 c. Chopped almonds (or any nut you like)
    1 c. Coconut
    1/2 c. Wheat germ (or whole wheat flour)
    1 1/2 c. Dried fruit ( I like the tropical mix but any dried fruit works)
    (I some times add 1/4 cup of mini chocolate chips to make them almost like a dessert bar, dark chocolate also adds some good nutrients)
    Heat in a saucepan to a boil:
    3 tablespoons apple sauce
    2/3 c. honey
    1/4 c. brown sugar (or less if you use chocolate chips)
    1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
    1/4 teaspoon salt.
    Add the sauce to the dry ingredients, spread on a greased pan and bake at 300 for roughly 15 min (longer for harder bars but I like them nice and chewy)
    The heat of the sauce melts any chocolate you add so they have a nice overall subtle chocolate flavor and are gobbled up fast.
    Anyway just thought I would share it with you. I love the blog!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I tried a variation of this yesterday using part cheerios and part oatmeal. The boys really liked them!

    ReplyDelete