Fruit and Nut Granola Bars |
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Prep Time: 45 Minutes Cook Time: 30 Minutes |
Ready In: 75 Minutes Servings: 16 |
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I really wanted to come up with my own granola bar recipe, so I got some ideas from other recipes and came up with my own. I don't like super sweet granola bars, so these are not particularly sweet, but they can be made sweeter with more sugar, or different dried fruits! If you don't have walnuts, sunflower seeds, cranberries, or raisins, any sort of nuts or dried fruits will work. Experiment! These bars are delicious! They are a little crisp on the outside, and chewy on the inside, and just a little sweet and a little tart. They're certainly healthier (and cheaper) than most store-bought granola bars! Ingredients:
parchment paper, for lining |
2 cups quick-cooking oats |
1 cup cereal |
1 cup whole wheat flour |
1 cup raw unsalted walnuts |
1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds |
1/4 cup raisins |
1 cup cranberries, boiled and mashed |
2 egg whites |
2 eggs |
2 tablespoons vegetable oil |
2 tablespoons maple syrup |
2 tablespoons honey |
1/2 cup light brown sugar |
1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon |
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract |
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350*F. Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Mix dry ingredients in a large bowl (oats, flour, cereal, walnuts, sunflower seeds, and raisins). By cereal , I mean the kind of cereal you eat cold with milk (or soy milk, etc.). Any kind will work!
3. In a separate bowl, mix egg whites, eggs, and vegetable oil together. Add maple syrup and honey. If you don't have/don't want to use maple syrup and honey (or have another sweetener you want to use), just use 1/4 cup of that sweetener.
4. Add bananas and boiled cranberries to the bowl of wet ingredients and mix well.
5. Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix thoroughly.
6. Stir in brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract. Depending on how sweet you want the bars to be, you may want adjust the amount of brown sugar. 1/2 cup of brown sugar does not make the bars particularly sweet because of the boiled cranberries, so you might want to add more if you like very sweet bars.
7. Put granola bar mixture into lined 9x13 pan, and press firmly. Pack this very tightly, as this will help them hold together!
8. Place pan in the oven and bake for 25-35 minutes, or until golden brown.
9. Remove pan from oven and let cool completely (it could take up to an hour).
10. Once the pan has cooled, lift the granola bars out of the pan by grabbing the parchment paper. Place it on a cutting board/cutting surface.
11. Cut the bars into whatever size you like, and enjoy!
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