Granola Bars and An Award

"Cereal eating is almost a marker for a healthy lifestyle.  It sets you up for the day, so you don't overeat."

~Alexandra Ripley

Granola recipes abound on the internet, but I thought this one was worth sharing, since it has been my favorite for 30 years.  Hard to believe, but true.   Don't laugh, but the original recipe dates back to home economics class in high school (you can find it, here).  Over the years I've tweaked it and added ingredients as it is very versatile, but the bones of it are still WHS circa 1983.  It was a two part recipe.  How to make granola, then how to turn it into bars.    A batch of granola is in order here about every two weeks.  I have yet to find a commercial brand that compares.  


Recently, enough confidence has been garnered to revisit and rework the granola bar recipe, as the first attempts (20 years ago) were categorical failures.  The results being overly sweet, sticky bars, and the term is used loosely, as they fell apart more than they held together.  Originally the recipe called for completed granola to be mixed with honey syrup and baked, which means the oat mixture was tossed with honey syrup twice;  once to make the granola, and again to form the bars.

In this version, the oats, nuts and coconut were lightly browned dry before being tossed with the honey syrup and then pressed into the pan and baked.  After baking, I placed a piece of parchment paper over and weighed it down with books and let the bars cool that way.  They came out nice and crunchy with just the right amount of sweetness.  It's something you can feel really good about feeding to your family.


Granola Bars


4 cups old fashioned oats
1 cups shredded sweetened coconut
1 cup whole toasted almonds
1/2 cup chopped dates
2 Tablespoons sesame seeds
1/3 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1/3 cup multiple grain hot cereal mix (or wheat germ, oat bran or flaxseed)
1/3 teaspoon salt


Stir all of these ingredients together in a large bowl.  Spread on a cookie sheet and roast in a 350 degree F oven for 10 minutes, stirring twice.  Watch carefully, because it can become too dark very quickly.  Place toasted oat mixture back in large bowl.


Honey syrup:
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
3 Tablespoons butter
1 teaspoon vanilla


Place ingredients in a small saucepan on medium heat and stir until butter melts and sugar is dissolved.


To assemble bars:
Lower oven temperature to 325 degrees F.
Butter a 13x9 inch baking dish, then line with tin foil or parchment paper and butter again.
Pour syrup over toasted oat mixture and stir together completely.  Immediately spread oat mixture into prepared pan.  Place a piece of parchment or wax paper over and press down as hard as you can.  Remove paper and bake for 30 minutes.  Immediately after removing pan from oven, replace paper, press down again and then place some heavy books on the paper as a pressing weight and allow the bars to cool completely like that.  Remove from pan, carefully cut into bars with a very sharp knife and store in an airtight container.  


If you would prefer to make regular old granola, stir together dry ingredients, the only change being that in this case I chop the nuts and add a cup of dried cranberries.  Make the syrup minus the brown sugar and vanilla, then stir into dry ingredients.  Dump mixture onto a buttered cookie sheet and press lightly.  Bake for 10 minutes in a preheated 350 degree F oven.  Stir well, press down again and return to oven for ten minutes.  Remove from oven to cooling rack and let cool completely before breaking up and transferring to airtight containers.

Recently a fellow blogger chose me to receive the Liebster Blog award!  Kathy writes  Bakeaway with Me, a blog with mouthwatering recipes and photos.  A big thank you to her.  Please stop by and visit her blog.  She’s very sweet and engaging and has been an encouragement to me.  The rules of the award are that I have to link back to her (the presenter) and then give the award to 5 other bloggers with less than 200 followers and let them know by leaving a comment on their blog.  The ones I chose are folks I would love to have as neighbors.

Here I go with my 5 choices:

AMY:  “Meh”  

This is one of the first blogs I followed and the only one that is not a food blog.  I love to read Amy's posts because she makes me laugh.   She is real, down to earth and FUNNY.  Her short, sweet (and sometimes sarcastic) posts are always entertaining.

Di:  Di's Kitchen Notebook

I met Di over a year ago. She's very generous of spirit and "adopted" my blog when I first started and we became fast friends.  She's a busy gal with a job, husband, two beautiful girls and a very active baking blog.  If you like to bake, you'll want to check her out.  The recipes are inspiring!

Hester:  Alchemy in the Kitchen

I've been following this Irish blog for several months now.  The recipes are truly "magical" and the writer, Hester has an engaging style and is a talented photographer, usually including "step by step" photo instructions.  Pop by and say "Hey!" from me!

Hannah:  Eat, Drink and Save Money

I just found this blog recently, but I love her style!  Dedicated to stretching a dollar and making good food on a budget.  Since I will soon be sending another child off to college, I look forward to seeing what she comes up with.  These days, every penny counts!  Check her out for some tips if you're in that boat too!

Richard:  What's Cooking at Richard's

Another blog I only recently discovered.  I enjoy Richard's every day, family style recipes.  As I mentioned earlier, his is a family you would love to have next door!  I look forward to his posts and getting some dinner inspiration in the upcoming months!