My Homemade Granola Bars

Crunchy, flavourful granola bars. If you are low on one of the first 7 ingredients, add a little more of one of the others. I was trying to make a recipe to rival shop bought granola bars and these are certainly crunchy, tasty and keep well (in the fridge). The nice thing about them is you can add your own favourite things (i.e. different nuts, dried fruit, choc chips) you could even cover them in chocolate if you like.

• Ready In: 1 hr 15 mins
• Serves: 16
• Yields: 16 bars

Ingredients

• 2  cups rolled oats
• 1⁄4 cup  raw sunflower seeds
• 1  cup  sliced almonds
• 1⁄2 cup wheat germ
• 1⁄2 cup  wheat bran
• 1⁄2 cup  oat bran
• 1⁄4 cup  Grape-nuts cereal
• 1⁄2 cup honey
• 1⁄4 cup  packed dark brown sugar
• 2  tablespoons golden syrup
• 3  tablespoons butter, plus extra for pan
• 2  teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1  teaspoon  orange extract (optional)
• 1⁄2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1⁄2 teaspoon mixed spice
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt

Directions

1. Butter a pyrex lasagne dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.
2. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ, wheat bran, oat bran & grape-nuts onto a baking pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15-20 minutes, stirring occasionally.
3. In the meantime, combine the honey, syrup, brown sugar, butter, extracts, spices and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
4. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 150 degrees Celsius Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 20-25 minutes until golden.
5. When cooked remove from the oven and allow to a cool a little,then using a pizza cutter, slowly cut into 16 slices. Allow to cool completely before removing the slices from the pan.
6. Store in an airtight container in the fridge and they should keep for about a week.