Recipe for homemade granola bars?

[sahmmie]

Anyone make these? My kids love granola bars and I admit love having them in the house because they are quick and convenient, but I'd really like to make my own. Any suggestions on recipes? Thanks.

[lingon]

This isn't really granola bars, but I make oatmeal-raisin cookies with half the sugar. I use the betty crocker (orange cookbook) recipe, with some ground cloves added as well, eliminate all the white sugar, and use half whole wheat flour. With extra raisins added, they are plenty sweet enough.

[peaceful_mama]

I have the BEST recipe (let's see if I can remember it off the top of my head I am currently taking 10 mins to myself "hiding' )

4 cups oatmeal (the regular Quakers are fine)
1 cup of raisins or dried cranberries (or I suppose really any dried berry)
1/4 cup ground flaxseeds
1/2 cup ground raw almonds (Might be a cup? like i said I might have to come back and edit)
1/2 cup natural PB
1/4 cup sunflower (or any) seeds
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown rice syrup
I *THINK* (am pretty sure) there is part of a stick of butter in this.

Stir together dry ingredients.
Melt your PB, butter, sugars together, cook to *almost* boiling (just starting to bubble)
Stir this up with your dry stuff.
Pat in jelly roll pan. I put a really big cutting board on top and press down hard on it.
Let cool
Enjoy! Amazingly good.
(you can use any seed/berries you want, when I got this recipe it came with a note that dry cranberries and pumpkin seeds were both attractive and tasty....)

[*Jessica*]

We love, love, love, love, love this Coconut Almond Granola Bars recipe from Whole Grain Gourmet.

[sahmmie]

Thanks ladies! My kids noticed that we have no store bought granola bars in the house and had very long faces at breakfast!! I told them I was going to make some and they were very excited. Why do kids love to see mom bake so much?

Anyway, I appreciate the time you took to post your recipes and I will definitely try all three of them, though not on the same day! Thanks!

[pishajane]

Thanks for the recipe Peaceful Mama - do you know how much butter i would need to add?

[rhiOrion]

Here's my recipe

This is the recipe from my blog. I don't think I can post a link to my blog? I can't remember, so to be on the safe side, I'll just repost the whole recipe.

2 cups granola (I used a hemp granola from Whole Foods)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup ground flax seed
1/2 cup crasins
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup peanut or almond butter
1/4 cup agave nectar (you can find this at any grocery store in the aisle with all the alternative sweeteners, and artificial sweeteners)
1/4 cup honey
1 tablespoon vanilla
1/4 cup chocolate chips (mini chips will give you more bang per oz)

Mix the granola, flax, wheat germ, craisins, and almonds together in a large bowl.

In a small sauce pan heat the peanut butter, agave, vanilla, and honey until boiling. Let boil for a few minutes, stirring constantly. Don’t let it burn. Pull it off the heat after a couple of minutes boiling.

Add the peanut butter mixture to the granola mixture. Being careful not to burn yourself, mix it all together. Immediately press it into an 8×8 pan lined with foil or parchment. Press down firmly all over and then press some more. You want it pretty compressed. Then sprinkle with chocolate chips and press those in (your hands are going to get chocolaty, I can’t help that).

Let cool completely and then slice into bars of whatever size you like. It helps to dip the sharp knife into a cup of hot water before you slice.

Here is a little cooking tip: if you spray your measuring cup with non stick spray (or olive oil) before you put honey in, it will help keep the honey from sticking to the cup.
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You can sub ingredients pretty easily. I added chopped pumpkin seeds to this last time I did it. You could do raisins instead of craisins, etc.

Here's a picture of one!

[Ruthla]

I'm also looking to make my own granola bars, mostly to save money. I don't want any recipes that call for ready-made granola, as that probably won't save me any money. I need to avoid both wheat and peanut butter.

Peaceful mama- how many bars does your recipe make? I could sub almond butter for the peanut butter in your recipe, but almond butter is rather expensive. I'm trying to figure out just how much food this makes, and whether or not it will turn out cheaper than buying Trader Joe's chocolate chip bars.