Your Favorite Flavor Granola Bars

Caryn Gale's Note:

These granola bars are so easy and there are so many options you can try a new flavor each week or create your own with what you find in your pantry.

• Total Time: 20 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 48 squares

• 200 g margarine
• 2 tablespoons honey or 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 cup white sugar or 1 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 2 cups flour
• 2 cups quick oats
• ½ cup nuts (optional)
• ¼ cup peanut butter (optional)
• cinnamon (optional)
• ginger (optional)
• ground cloves (optional)
• ½ bag your favorite chocolate chips or ½ bag peanut butter chips or ½ bag butterscotch chips or ½ bag cinnamon bark

Directions:

1. First melt the margarine and honey in a saucpan on the stove or in a micro-safe container.
2. Add all the other ingredients and mix well.
3. (It tastes good at this point, but try not to eat it all).
4. At this point you can add one or two of the optional ingredients.
5. Switch honey and white sugar to maple syrup and brown sugar.
6. Or add 1 cup chopped peanuts and a 1/4 cup of peanut butter.
7. Then pour choc chips on top after baked and spread.
8. Or add cinnamon, groung cloves and ginger.
9. Or add chopped or crushed nuts of your choice.
10. And or add half the bag chips (any flavor) to the mix as well as melting on top.
11. Use your imagination and anything you find left in the pantry!
12. Press hard onto a cookie sheet.
13. I usually line it with foil.
14. Bake at 320 for 15 minutes.
15. It will puff up.
16. Remove from the oven and evenly sprinkle half a bag of your favorite flavor chips on top.
17. Wait a minute and then spread with a spatula.
18. Careful not to pick up the spatula, but just keep spreading.
19. You MUST cut into squares while still hot.
20. They taste great hot and cold.
21. Store for a week in an airtight container or they freeze great and even taste good frozen if you are sneaking them out of the freezer!

Reviews

[sally f]

My son takes his own lunch to school - I had no cereal bar for him and tomorrow is Monday - needed a recipe fast and tried this one! I used maple syrup and soft brown sugar, and added a few chopped dates, apricots, and sunflower seeds and a pathetically small amount of raisins (was all I had left!) One cup of oats was quick-cook, the other cup was large "old fashioned" rolled oatflakes. And about half a cup of the flour was wholemeal. I made sure to cut them while still hot - I'm never sure which is the right thing to do with bars like this - cutting them while hot DOES seem to work. Only complaint I have (well, I had to taste them didnt I? to see if they are OK....) is that I had no chocolate! - but that's my fault!! Very quick and tasty bars.

[EMcooks]

the flavor is great, but these also fell apart for me. the small parts that stuck together I ate and almost made myself sick because they were so addictive, but the majority of it I just put in a bag because it was like powder.

[Demandy]

This didn't stick together for me. I tried a half recipe (in 9x13) and used half white half whole wheat flour. I used the maple syrup and the brown sugar, as well as some coconut and some chocolate chips. I didn't melt chips on top because I was making it for a diabetic. It just crumbled up when I tried to slice (although it tastes good). Also there is no way I would be able to get 24 out of a half recipe, I would say 16 decent sized servings.