Homemade Granola Bars

[organized chaos]

Got these from my boss after he found out i enjoyed hiking...I was skeptical at first but made a batch an these are absolutly awesome. Without further ado here ya go:

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients
 2 c quick cooking rolled oats
 1 c flour
 ¾ c packed brown sugar
 ¾ c dried cranberries
 ½ c wheat germ
 ½ t salt
 ½ t ground cinnamon
 ½ c chopped pecans
 ½ c vegetable oil
 ½ c honey
 1 large egg
 2 t vanilla extract

Instructions
Preheat oven to 350. Line a 13 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, cranberries, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and pecans.
In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. I use rubber gloves for this. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan. Make sure it is packed in tightly.
Bake 25-30 minutes in the oven or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars. Wrap tightly in plastic wrap.

Notes
They freeze well (wrap them up two bars to a bag for an easy trail snack out of the freezer.) Yes, they are high in fat, but if you are hiking hard, you will burn it off. And they are better for you than a candy bar. These bars take well to using applesauce or baby prunes as part of the oil. Brown sugar Splena works well as a way to cut back in the sugar content for diabetics. Any nut can be used, and feel to change the fruit or add chocolate chips, ets to the batter. These bars are dang good- no matter how you change the recipe. With homemade items try to eat your product within 3-4 days of baking it. Most homemade items can be frozen safely in advance (cut into individual portions, wrap, and store in large freezer bags.) Most frozen items are good for 1-2 months in a freezer.

[Allen]

I used to make Granola pretty often. This is the first recipe I've seen with egg in it. It should help hold the bars together without crumbling. I'll give it a try. Thanks for the recipe!

Cheers!

[organized chaos]

No problem hope you enjoy these Allen..

I just got done making a batch with mini chocolate chips instead of pecans and cranberries. They turned out great..next time butterscoth chip...mmmmmmmm.

[ZombieSoldier01]

these sound fantastic! im gonna give them a shot!

[ZombieGranny]

Are these soft or crunchy?
They look like they may be soft; I hope so, I've been looking for a soft one.

[organized chaos]

Dang I totally forgot about this thread....They are soft sorry about not getting back to you in a timely manner-Zombiegranny

[ZombieGranny]

Thanks much.
No problem waiting for the answer, hadn't had a chance to make them as my life got quite busy. Now that I know they're soft, I'll be sure to try it.

[organized chaos]

Busy is the way of life with me so i understand.

[neener]

Used this recipe last night to make a batch. Turned out perfectly. Now thinking of different tweaks I can make to the fruits and such. Came out nice and chewy and yet still firm.

[ZombieGranny]

Oh, thanks for the reminder.

I made them, with a little tweaking like coconut and ground chocolate chips. Even though I didn't hear the timer, everything but the too-well-done edges were excellent.

[Big B]

These sound good I'll have to give them a try one of these days.

[1776]

I just put a batch in the oven. I did make some changes though. I left out the wheat germ.(hope that wasn't essentinal to the recipe!),instead of 3/4 c pecans I made it a whole cup,and I added 3/4 c semi-sweet chocalate chips. I also added 1 c of chunky peanut butter to the wet part of the mixture. (I've always preferred peanut butter in my granola bars). I think it'll turn out good. I had to stop myself from eating it once I got everything mixed. I think now the obvious trick is not to over cook it.




EDIT: They taste great,but next time I'll make it a 1/2C semi-sweet choclate chips (or mabey leave them out althogether). After they cooled,they turned out soft and chewy,but they could have been firmer. I'm about to put them in the fridge so that should solve that problem,but next time I will pack down the mixture tighter once I put it in the pan-they came out a little too thick. But all in all a great recipe,I'm very happy with the results.

[ZombieGranny]

organized chaos, I passed your recipe on to the ladies at MrsS.

Be careful if you venture over there, they are liable to smother you with hugs!

[organized chaos]

That is cool that ya'll are making your own type of these. Like the recipe says it can be tweaked if you find any great combos I would be interested in hearing what you did. I enjoy all types of stuff in my granola bars.

ZombieGranny: Thanks for the warning glad others can use elsewhere. How did the coconut and chocolate chips ones turn out?
sounds delicious...

1776: Unsure how important Wheat germ is but is very helpful in protein and also other vitamins. This website tells the benefits of wheat germ: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-is-wheat-germ.htm

Glad so many are enjoying these. It is a very good recipe that is so changable it is nice.

[leadpulaski]

I'm going to have to try this tonight. Thanks amillion because my wife has been spending loads of money on snacks.

I may skip the germ if we don't have any and use flax seed instead.

[ZombieGranny]

They were excellent, thank you.
This is it with my changes:
Homemade Granola Bars -- my variation
Ø 2 cups old fashioned oats
Ø 1 cup flour
Ø ¾ cup packed brown sugar
Ø 1/4 cup coconut, 1/4 cup choc chips, and 1/2 cup raisins (chopped in the Magic Bullet)
Ø ½ cup wheat germ
Ø ½ teasp salt
Ø ½ teasp ground cinnamon
Ø ½ teasp ground allspice
Ø 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
Ø 1 Tablespoon flax seed
Ø ½ cup vegetable oil
Ø ½ cup honey
Ø 1 large egg
Ø 2 t vanilla extract

[ZombieGranny]

leadpulaski, 1/2 cup would be an awful lot of flax seed...
Might want to sub whole wheat flour instead.
What I call 'wheat germ' is the sifting from the home ground flour, so it's really wheat germ and bran mixed.
-
I want to try making some, replacing part of the oatmeal with Rice Krispies. That would make them sort of between these and Rice Krispie Treats.

[leadpulaski]

Brain fart, 1/2 cup would be a lot. Looked around, we have wheat germ (wife must have snuck it in) gonna make a batch tonight with wee man. That will be fun.

[ZombieSoldier01]

hmmm i forgot about this recipe. tomorrow i am gonna get dried strawberries and blueberries to make a mixed berry version

[organized chaos]

Tell us how the mixed berries turn out, may end up making some if they turn out. Thanks.

[Cavediver]

They were excellent, thank you.
This is it with my changes:
Homemade Granola Bars -- my variation
...

Thanks to the OP and to you ZombieGranny. Two big thumbs up for the addition of allspice. I made a batch last night and I love the taste! I think I'm going to try for a more crunchy / traditional granola bar recipe using this as a base. Maybe more oats, less flour, and a little less oil? My existing crunchy granola recipe is pretty good, but it doesn't clump at all. Maybe the egg and a little oil will help.

Thanks again!
Jay

[ZombieGranny]

I am bumping this up because somebody asked about them, and I forgot who it was...
sorry about that,
at least I remembered what it was you wanted!

[TheLastRifleMan]

Nice bump. These sound tasty and this is an informative post.

[wee drop o' bush]

I must make these, mentioning a diabetes friendly option is a great idea