Granola bars: a hack recipe

Today’s Project 365 photo was inspired by the recent requests for the recipe I butchered used to make granola bars the other day. Not only does this save me from having to think of something to shoot today, but it also serves as proof that, despite my rambling and the seeming incoherence of what you are about to read, the recipe really does work and the end result really is edible.

Honest. It is. See?

granola bar

So, as requested, here is the granola bar recipe. Warning: I use the word “mix” 247 times in this recipe. I apologize in advance.

Ingredients:

2 cups oats (quick-cooking or old-fashioned should be fine)
1 cup almonds
1 cup cashews
1/2 cup flax seeds
3 tablespoons dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons maple syrup
3-4 tablespoons vegetable oil (I used 2 tablespoons vegetable oil and 2 tablespoons flax oil)
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup raisins
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 tablespoons honey
extra two tablespoons oil
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

First, preheat oven to 250 degrees F. Prepare a 9×13 pan by lining it with foil and spraying lightly with oil. Then, in one bowl, combine the oats, nuts, flax seeds, and brown sugar. In another bowl, combine the 3-4 tablespoons of oil, maple syrup, and salt. Then mix all of them together and pour onto the 9 x 13 pan. Put that in the oven for 45 minutes, making sure to take it out every 15 minutes and stir everything around so that everything gets roasted evenly.

While the granola mixture is baking, get another bowl and mix one egg, two tablespoons of honey, two tablespoons oil (again, I used half vegetable oil and half flax oil), and 2 teaspoons vanilla extract. After the 45 minutes of baking, take the granola mixture out and transfer it into a bowl. Meanwhile, increase oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Mix in the raisins and cranberries with the granola. Then, pour in the egg mixture. Mix again, then add 1/2 cup all-purpose flour mixed with the cinnamon (I suspect you can use whole wheat flour instead, but I didn’t, so don’t quote me on that). Once everything is nice and mixed properly, pour it back into the pan and spread it out evenly.

Pop it back into the oven for about 20 minutes or until the edges are golden or until you can’t stand the smell of the roasting nuts and just have to take it out for a taste or you’ll die. Please don’t let that happen. I don’t want you to die.

And I don’t want you to burn your tongue either, so let it cool first before taking it out of the pan and cutting it into bars. I just wrapped each piece in foil, but if you have a better way of storing it, please let me know.

Hope it turns out as good for you as it did for me.

5 thoughts on “Granola bars: a hack recipe”

  1. I want to try it too – but that is is daunting number of ingredients! I’ll have to try it some time when I’ve got a little extra time on my hands.

  2. Karen, I realized belatedly that it does look like a daunting recipe. But really, it’s very simple. Just keep it around 1 part oats and 1 part nuts+raisins combo and you should be fine. The rest (flax seeds, cereal, cinnamon) are optional.

    The egg and flour are there to make sure you can form bars when you’re done. (Make sure the entire mix is evenly wet and sticky before baking.) If you’d rather just have a trail mix of sorts, or even loose granola mix to use as cereal (which I did today), you can omit the egg and flour.

    The sugar and honey and maple syrup would be your call. I use less, but that’s my personal taste. Again, with that, any amount of any sweetener will do. You can use just all sugar, all honey, all syrup – you can even use caramel if you want. I won’t tell. :)

  3. Have it in the oven now and it is smelling yummy.. did a couple changes used all almonds..all raisins no craisins…did half vanilla and half maple extract and no honey instead used more brown sugar… Looks and smells good!! Thanks for the recipe have been wanting to try a granola bar recipe!!

    1. Awesome! Which reminds me, I think I need to make this again. I’m having a serious craving for something crunchy. :)

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