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Homemade chewy granola bars
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Photo by: Courtney Monigold, Granola Bars
We are almost to the end of the week, and I am sure we could all use an energizer!
I REALLY try to keep up with healthy living, but I have a major sweet tooth. I love cookies and cakes and I am not ashamed to admit that. Hey, it’s all in moderation, right?
What I hear most often from people about eating healthy is, “It’s just so expensive to eat healthy”. I don’t think that is necessarily true, especially if you can learn to make things yourself. You really owe it to yourself to feed your body the right things.
I was looking at a box of granola bars at the grocery store and I was astounded by the price when I can buy rolled oats for a fraction of the price, plus, dare I tell you the ingredients? High fructose corn syrup. *GASP*. I’m sorry, but look beyond the propaganda commercials you see about the high fructose corn syrup. It’s not good for you. Most food items it accompanies are loaded with preservatives. Just check out my fellow Organic Food Examiner, Natalie Rotunda, who has also taken my same point of view.
Anyway off the soap box, I am really just here to provide you with fun recipes! I found a great homemade recipe for granola bars that are delicious, and actually have ingredients that are good for you. Now, I totally cheated and added chocolate chips, but you can CERTAINLY leave that out or just sprinkle a few on top (an even better option is to get the vegan chocolate chips you find at whole food stores). The best part is this recipe is not finicky and you can feel free to change it around and use all sorts of dried fruits and nuts that fit your fancy. These contain no flour because the oats and ground almonds are used in its place. Honey gives these a great sweetness and also provides these babies with the ultimate chewy factor.
These are easy to assemble, and great to pack in your lunch for a mid afternoon energizer! Hey, it’s better than that 3pm run to the vending machine for a bag of Cheeto's! Don't think I haven't seen you do it...
Homemade Granola Bars
Recipe derived from “The New Cookie Book”, Catherine Atkinson
Ingredients:
6oz. (1 ¾ cup) Unsalted butter
2/3 cup honey
9 oz. (1 cup generous) Raw turbinado sugar
3 cups rolled oats (not instant)
1 teaspoon cinnamon
¾ cup pecan halves
¾ cup dried cherries
½ cup dried currants
¾ cup dried cranberries
½ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup mini chocolate chips
¼ cup white chocolate chips, chopped
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
½ cup ground almonds
Looking for alterations? Try any combination of dried fruits up to a total of 2 cups, such as raisins, golden raisins, papaya, blueberries, apricots, etc. You can leave out the chocolate completely and use peanut butter chips. You can also add other nuts like walnuts, macadamia nuts etc.
Directions:
Preheat the oven to 375 degrees.
Line a 9x9 square pan with parchment paper.
In a heavy bottomed saucepan, melt butter. Add honey and heat gently until combined and completely smooth. Then add sugar. Bring to a boil and continue to heat for 1-2 minutes stirring constantly just to dissolve the sugar. Set aside.
In a LARGE bowl, add remaining ingredients except for the chocolate chips (nuts, dried fruit, oats, etc) and mix together. Add the sugar mixture and mix together. You can add the chocolate chips now if you want them to be melted in, otherwise, just sprinkle the chips on the top once you get them in the pan.
Then pour the mixture into the prepared pan and press it down with the back of a spoon or spatula. Bake for 15 minutes. Let it cool on a cooling rack for a bit and put it into the refrigerator to chill. Then pull them out by the parchment paper and slice with a sharp knife into granola bars. Store in layers between wax paper in a sealed container.
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