Thick and Chewy Granola Bars

Submitted by JulieCHopp

"I found this recipe on one of my favorite food blog sites - SmittenKitchen.com. Deb has the best recipes and stories, and not necessarily in that order! These granola bars are wonderful because you can make them with what you want. I have not had any crumbling issues and I never make them with the same fruit and nuts twice. You can make oat flour by processing rolled oats until finely ground in a food processor. I always use almond butter and I also double the recipe - they are very popular in our house!"

 

• Ready In: 1hr
• Ingredients: 12
• Serves: 16

ingredients

• 1 2⁄3 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1⁄2 cup sugar
• 1⁄3 cup oat flour
• 1⁄2 teaspoon salt
• 1⁄4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 3 cups nuts, and dried fruit mix
• 1⁄3 cup peanut butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 6 tablespoons butter, melted
• 1⁄4 cup honey
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon water

directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8 x 8 pan in one direction with parchment paper. Lightly grease paper and exposed pan with non-stick spray.
2. Stir together all of the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk the vanilla, melted butter, liquid sweeteners, nut butter and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan.
3. Bake the bars for 30 - 40 minutes, until they are brown around the edges, the top will brown a little as well. They may seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center but they will set up once completely cool.
4. Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. Once completely cool you can cut them with a serrated knife into single servings. If they seem too crumbly then put into the fridge to cool further. Wrap individually or store in an airtight containter. They freeze well.

Reviews

[tjolish]

Thanks for posting! I love this recipe (and smittenkitchen) and was hoping someone had posted it for the nutrition info. I make it with brown sugar and almond butter and it's always a hit.