Homemade Granola Bars

As I have said before, if there is a recipe I can make instead of buying snacks for my boys I try to make them.  Not that it is always cheaper, because sometimes it definitely isn’t, but because I like knowing what is going in them, and I like to be able to add that special ingredient….LOVE.

My boys love granola bars.  Aiden especially.  Plain old chocolate chip granola bars.  So I looked up simple recipes and found one.  It is pretty great, claims to be chewy, and they are chewy.  But they are rich, sweet, and delicious.  Aiden really enjoyed them. Jakob said they had a weird flavour, and I am thinking that the honey I used in the recipe must have been it…..it is a local honey, very fragrant and quite delicious, but definitely a strong flavour.  Aiden asked for milk with these, just like he does when we eat chocolate chip cookies.

Recipe: (Adapted from Allrecipes)

Chewy Granola Bars

4 1/2 cups of Rolled Oats

1 cup All Purpose Flour

1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 tsp Cinnamon

2/3 cup  Softened Unsalted Butter

1/2 cup Honey

1/3 cup Packed Brown Sugar

2 cups Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips (this is where we can mix it up….change it to raisins, nuts, peanut butter chips, dried cherries, etc…you get the idea!)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 325 deg.  Lightly grease one 9 x 12 inch pan.

In a large mixing bowl, combine oats, flour, baking soda, cinnamon, vanilla, butter, honey, and brown sugar.  Stir in the 2 cups of chocolate chips.

Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan.  Bake at 325 deg for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown.  Let cool in the pan for 10 minutes, then cut into bars.  Allow the bars to cool completely before removing from the pan.

Store in a sealed container.   Yields about 18 bars – depending the size you want.

I will be making these again for sure….with a milder honey.