Friday, September 30, 2011

Organic homemade granola bars

These are great! My kids gobble them up. This recipe is for a double batch because they eat them so fast! I was inspired to start making my own granola bars because my kids would want to eat multiple granola bars a day. As I saw money flying out the window with each individually wrapped organic granola bar going into their belly, I decided to start making my own. They actually prefer these. They are a hearty snack they love! Feel free to cut everything in half if you don't want two pans, it'll work fine.
Ingredients:
4 cups organic rolled oats
1 1/2 cups organic brown sugar
4 TB organic seeds (I've used : Flax, sunflower, chia, sesame, etc)
2 cups organic unbleached wheat flour
1/2 cup organic chocolate chips
1/2 cup organic raisins
1 1/2 ts sea salt
1 1/2 ts organic cinnamon
1 1/2 cups honey
1 cup oil
4 ts organic vanilla
2 organic eggs beaten
 
(Options: Any dried fruit can be used. I've used dried cranberries and that was really yummy. Chop any larger pieces of dried fruit. Coconut adds a nice flavor. 1/2 cup organic almond or sunflower seed butter can be added with no consistency problem. You could substitute some of the honey with maple syrup. Be creative, mix it up, and make these YOUR bars!)
Grease two baking pans. Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl (oats to cinnamon). Make a well in the middle and add all wet ingredients (honey to eggs). Mix well, hands are best. Divide evenly between the two pans. Wet your hands and press the mixture down into the pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. The edges will be brown when done.

Let cool for 5-10 minutes. Do not let them cool completely or they will be too hard to cut. With a wet sharp knife cut squares, or rectangles, whatever you prefer.
Let cool completely in the pan and then remove with a metal spatula. Store in an airtight container.

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