Homemade Granola Bars

I made some home made granola bars today. They taste great. If you try the recipe out I think they start out a little crumbly but if you refrigerate them for a few hours (after you cut and wrap them up) they are perfect. You can put a lot of different things in them. I added cranberries, raisins, a handful of chocolate chips, and chopped peanuts. I left out the sunflower seeds. Otherwise, I followed the recipe exactly. Enjoy!

Granola Bars:

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.

Gather your ingredients:

• 2 cups oats
• 3/4 cup wheat germ
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup peanuts, crushed
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• approximately 8 oz. dried fruit

To crush your peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet, measuring cup, or sauce pan. (I chopped them up using a dicing device.)

Then, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned.

Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (I forgot to take a picture of this step, but it looks so pretty!)

By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit. Oh, and turn off your oven, because you’re finished with it now.

Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.

Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.

Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.

Then, open the waxed paper …

And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.

Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.

I wrapped ours individually in plastic wrap and then stuck them in the fridge. I got about 18 bars out of one batch. Enjoy!

I found this recipe on this blog.