Finally Made Granola Bars That Worked!!! (and Are Amazingly Delicious!)

I can’t tell you how many times I have attempted to make granola bars and I end up with???? Granola! I’ve tried recipes that baked them, some you put in the fridge. I’ve made recipes from one’s I’ve seen on Tastespotting. In the photos, they all look amazing, yet every single time when it comes time to cut them into bars – they always fall apart!

It’s become a joke in my house if I am in the kitchen and one of my kids will see what I am doing and they say “Are you trying to make granola bars again?” (while they were probably thinking – why doesn’t she just give up?”)

The reason I haven’t given up is I wanted to make them so I don’t spend a ridiculous amount on a box of granola bars from the store that my kids eat in a few days.

So a few weeks ago, my brother in law Jim e-mailed me asking me for help figuring out calories for granola he was making. He said it made 36 – and I e-mailed him back and asked him how he figured out the serving size when he replied “I made granola bars”. Wait a second. “Did they stick together?” He then sent me a picture and I couldn’t believe it. I was still skeptical. I’ve made bars from other people’s sites that never worked, why would this one? Then he told me the recipe was from America’s Test Kitchen. Of course it is going to work – they probably tested the recipe 100 times!!!!

So I big shout out and thanks to JIM – these are amazing and I will make them again and again!

Print Finally made granola bars that worked!!! (and are amazingly delicious!)

Rating: 51

Super crunchy, like nature valley granola bars - delicious!

Ingredients

• 7 cups (21 oz.) old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used grapeseed oil)
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1.5 cups of almonds, pecans or walnuts (I used pecans)
• 3/4 cup honey
• 3/4 cup brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Instructions

1. The first thing you do is add the oats, oil and salt. Place that on a cookie sheet covered in foil (i did spray a little cooking spray on the foil first). Bake that for about 30 minutes at 375 degrees.
2. Stir the oats every 10 minutes, making sure they aren't getting too brown, you want these toasted.
3. Remove the oats from the pan and lower the temperature of the oven to 300.
4. *wait at least 15 minutes for your oven to get cooler, otherwise they will brown too fast.
5. Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse for about 10 1-second pulses. Take half the nuts out and mix the rest until they are ground.
6. *I just chopped half with a knife and blended the rest in a blender
7. Now in a medium pot add the honey and brown sugar and cook on low heat for about 10 minutes, stirring occasionally until all the sugar has dissolved. Remove from heat, add the vanilla and cinnamon and set aside.
8. Now the fun begins! Adding all these components together. Add the toasted oats in a big bowl, with the chopped nuts, the finely ground nuts, and the honey/brown sugar mixture.
9. Stir until everything is combined and spread on a jelly roll pan covered in foil (spray the pan with cooking spray first.
10. Here is the step that I think made them work. You press down the mixture with a spatula dipped in water (so it doesn't stick to the bars) and press down as hard as you can to make it tight and compact. I actually ended up spraying another piece of foil and put that on top to press down. I even had my son do it since he had better leverage than I did.
11. Bake at 300 degrees for 45-50 minutes. Depending on your oven check it at 35 minutes - if it is getting too brown, lower the temp or just take it out.
12. Let cool on the sheet for 10 minutes.
13. Then just remove the bars from the pan and place on a cutting board. And voila - you will have pretty bars! If you cut them into 36 bars - they are approximately 180 calories each

Notes

These will store in a container for over a week. The best part - is they still stay crunchy!!

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So what are your plans for the weekend? I’m going to making copy cat Panera Broccoli Cheese soup for dinner – it’s my sister’s recipe. Also, it’s girl scout cookie pick up weekend. My daughter Claire and I will help pick them up – her troop sold an astounding 3,600 boxes!

I’ve also been asked to test some gluten free products out – so I’ll post about that next week!

And in weight loss news – still going strong! My koo-dohz bracelet is really helping me stay on track!

Koo-Dohz from yesterday?

*No thin mint cookies
*Someone offered my half their bakery muffin and I said “No thank you!”
*Leftover Jimmy Johns boxed lunches from a work lunch – I knew there were chocolate chip cookies in there that I love (but are like 500 calories) and I resisted that.
*Did chair squats at work throughout the day. Every time I got up before I sat down, I would hover right above my chair and hold that for 1 minute – try it – it’s not that easy!

Have a great weekend!