Yummy Granola Squares

Get Smart's Note:

These are my daughter's favorite. They're so easy to make and they keep for months in the freezer.

• Total Time: 25 mins
• Prep Time: 5 mins
• Cook Time: 20 mins

Ingredients:

Yield: 35 squares

• 2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour or 1 cup white flour
• ¾ cup sugar
• 1 cup coconut
• 200 g margarine or 200 g butter
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 1 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 175 degrees C.
2. Melt margarine with honey and bicarbonate of soda either on the stove or using microwave.
3. Add remaining ingredients and mix thoroughly useing a wooden spoon.
4. Spread evenly on ungreased 9*13 inch pan and press down firmly.
5. I like covering the pan with parchment paper.
6. Bake for 20 minutes or until brown.
7. (In my convection oven it only takes about 16-18 minutes) Cut into squares while still warm.
8. Freezes well in a sealed plastic container.

Reviews

[Roosie]

I like these! To be honest, I had a brain fart and didn't realize that these were acutally granola BARS until after I had mixed everything together. I was thinking more cake-like or bread-like, although, given the ingredients I have no clue where I got that idea. I made half the recipe and a couple substitutions- I used whole wheat pastry flour as the flour (it essentially 'acts' like white in being light and fluffy in texture, but still has the nutritional value of whole grain flour), subbed sucanat (dehydrated cane juice, essentially, sugar that still has its nutrients in it) for the sugar, used part butter and part unfiltered peanut oil (for a bit of extra flavor), and I added 1/2 cup raisins. I also used half cinnamon and half Cinnamon Plus (Baking Spice - Copycat Pampered Chef Cinnamon Plus Mix). I really like the flavor, and although these are very crumbly, I did manage to get a few actual squares cut up. I waited a bit too long to cut them, so mine were a bit more on the 'cool' side than on the 'warm' side, but they still cut okay. I'm sure they would have cut much better if I had cut when they were warm/hot. I was kind of surprised that the coconut does not provide much flavor, but it might show through more if I had not added the peanut oil, because mine were rather peanutty. I like how easy this is and that it is essentially one-bowl to prepare. I covered the bottom of my pan with oiled aluminum foil, which worked really well to keep these from sticking. I cooked at 350F for about 20 minutes, which was just about perfect. Overall, I think these are very good- I do wish they were a little more cohesive as they are a tad crumbly, but I realize that getting crunchy but not crumbly granola bars if a challenge to say the least. Thanks for a nice recipe! Will try again with other variations like adding nuts, other dried fruits, vanilla extract, etc.