Making Granola Bars

Why on earth would someone want to make their own granola bars? That's a very good question. The answer for me may simply be...because I can...and I like to know what's going into the foods that my family and I are eating. I started with a few recipes that I found on the internet. The one that I liked best was Playgroup Granola Bars from allrecipes.com. However, it wasn't quite as healthy as I wanted. So, I played around a lot and my family was forced to be the taste testers. Funny, I don't remember them complaining once!

Here is my recipe in its current state of development.

GRANOLA BARS

dry ingredients:

2 c. rolled oats
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. wheat germ
3/4 t. cinnamon
1 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 c. ground flax seeds
3/4 t. salt
3/4 c. chocolate chips (optional)

wet ingredients:

1/2 c. peanut butter
1/2 c. honey
1 egg, beaten
2 t. vanilla
1/4 c. water

preparation:

Preheat oven to 350 F (175 C). Generously grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan.*

In a large bowl, mix together the dry ingredients. Make a well in the center and add the wet ingredients. Mix well using your hands or a big serving spoon. Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan.**

Bake for 30 - 35 minutes in the preheated oven***, until the bars begin to turn golden at the edges. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars while still warm. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting, or they will be too hard to cut.


*I use lady finger/eclair pans and spray them with non-stick spray. (note: I found the pans in Kuwait at the Sultan Centre in Salmiya.)
**I drop 1 tablespoon of batter into each mold of the lady finger/eclair pan. Then use my fingers to form the batter in each cavity of the pan.
***I have found that using the lady finger/eclair pans only requires a bake time of 15 minutes.