Thursday, May 22, 2008

Homemade Granola Bars

Carlos and I just love Quaker Oats granola bars and I will pack one in his lunch bag everyday but they can be pretty expensive and not all granola bars you buy in stores are healthy. Some of them are loaded with fructose corn syrup. So I decided to make some myself and it work deliciously well as I get to put my own healthy ingredients in it.

Ingredients :

2 cups of oats
3/4 cup of slice almonds
1/2 cup unsweetened dry coconut
1/4 cup of sesame seeds
2 cups of chopped dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries, currants, cherries)
1/2 cup of honey
1 cup of unsalted crunchy peanut butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 tsp salt

1) Butter a 9 by 9-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper or aluminium foil. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
2) Spread the oats, almonds onto a sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 10 minutes, stirring occasionally. Add in coconut and sesame and toast it for another 2 minutes.
3) In the meantime, combine the honey, peanut butter, vanilla and salt in a saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until everything combined.
4) Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and immediately add it into the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine.
5) Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish
6) Cool completely and cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Note : I like my granola bars toasty and after cutting it I lightly toast it in a 300 degree F oven for another 10 minutes. I also find that if you toast it again it will keep longer than a week. You can add crush peanuts, sun flower seeds, wheat germs and other dried fruits to your bars.

12 comments:

Anonymous said...

lovely! i've always wanted to try to make these at home too!

Beachlover said...

Gert,granola bars you pun buat!! Banyak terror la!!*clap clap**

Yatie_T said...

I agree with beachlover, Gert banyak terror la. :) Seriously, you are the first person I've ever meet that know how to cook every thing. "salute"

Cat Cat said...

I salute you Gert... Granola bars pun no problem... Tell me, what is the one thing you can't or don't know how to cook...??? *salute salute*

Anonymous said...

Hi Gert,

I'm no blogger but a fan of all u food bloggers out there visiting all the blogs everyday without fail..hehehe!! Glad to say that I've learnt quite a lot of baking tips from all.Thanks everyone there for the generous share of recipes.

Btw, can I know the measurements for the slice almonds,unsweetened dry coconut n sesame seeds. It is in cups measurement? Also,is unsweetened dry coconut refers to dessicated coconut?

Rgds,
Janice.

tigerfish said...

The quaker oats granola bars are soft and chewy, did I have the correct impression? I know the Nature valley ones are crunchy!

ICook4Fun said...

Mc, hope you try this out :)

Beachlover,Yatie, Cat, I am not teror lah. I am still in learning stage :)

Janice, thanks for the kind words. Sorry, I just notice I missed typing out the word 'cup' I already made the corrections and yes unsweetened coconut is dessicated coconut.

Tigerfish, I like Nature Valley too but I find it very 'hard' as I prefer chewy bars :)

Anonymous said...

Gert, I have to agree with you that granola bars are expensive if you buy them weekly which I did. I quit buying them coz they are too much for my bank account!

Thanks for the recipe. I will definitely try it.

Zue Murphy said...

Gert,
homemade granola bars sounds much healthier. I agree, the granola bars at the store are quite pricy.Thank you for your recipe. I may try it some times.

ICook4Fun said...

Dawn & Zue, I like this bars as is softer and chewy. The one from the store are too sweet and hard :)

Fitness Foodie said...

These look great. I just made some on the weekend and found mine to be too crunchy and it turned to be granola more than a bar... I guess the trick is not to bake them after mixing the ingredients. I am going to try your way next time. Nice pics.

Anonymous said...

I live in Dalian, China so store bought granola bars are all imported and pricey! These turned out great. Thanks for the recipe. Boy, am I amazed by your site. Not only can you make Western food, you can make all kinds of Asian food. I am very impressed and inspired.