Thick, Chewy Granola Bars
Author: 
Recipe type: Sweet Treats
Prep time: 
Cook time: 
Total time: 
Serves: 8
 
Ingredients
  • 1⅔ cups quick rolled oats
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ⅓ cup whole wheat flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • 2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts*
  • ⅓ cup almond butter (peanut butter would work, too)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 6 tablespoons melted butter
  • ¼ cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
  • 2 tablespoons light corn syrup (see Note above)
  • 1 tablespoon water
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ pan with parchment paper, allowing the sides to hang over the edges. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan with a non-stick spray.
  2. Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients (including nut butter) with the dry until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan.
  3. Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges. They’ll might appear soft and underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but will set completely once completely cool.
  4. Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way (as I did, pictured above). Once cool, use a serrated knife to cut the bars into squares.
  5. My combination was ½ cup each dried cranberries, raisins, chopped dates, dried cherries and pecans. I highly recommend it, though you can use any combination of your favorite dried fruit and nuts.
Recipe by In Good Taste at http://ingoodtaste.kitchen/thick-chewy-granola-bars/