Homemade granola bars

(1)
  • Minutes to Prepare:
  • Minutes to Cook:
  • Number of Servings: 16
Ingredients
Homemade Granola BarsPreheat the oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit.Gather your ingredients:2 cups oats 3/4 cup wheat germ 3/4 cup sunflower seeds 1 cup peanuts, crushed 2/3 cup brown sugar 1/2 cup honey 4 Tbsp butter 2 tsp vanilla extract 1/2 tsp Kosher salt approximately 8 oz. dried fruitThen, mix the peanuts, oats, wheat germ, and sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so that they don’t get burned. (Dave: I used chopped almonds, walnuts and pecans instead of peanuts - put in what you have or what you like)Meanwhile, prepare a glass baking dish (about 11 x 13 inches) for your granola by lining it with waxed paper lightly sprayed with a nonstick spray.Put the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. (Dave: if you cook this mixture too long you‘ll make really crunchy granola bars - you‘re cooking candy at this point. I just melted mine)By now, your grains and nuts should be toasted, so mix everything together in a large bowl. The grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit. Oh, and turn off your oven, because you’re finished with it now.Mix everything REALLY WELL because you want to make sure the “glue” gets all over everything. Now, dump your granola mixture into your prepared baking dish.Spread out the mixture with a wooden spoon or spatula.Now fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.Wait 2-3 hours or until the granola has totally cooled.Then, open the waxed paper …And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board, peeling away the rest of the paper.Now, firmly pressing down with a big knife (not sawing), cut your granola into whatever size bars you’d like.I wrapped ours individually in plastic wrap, so that we could just throw one into our bag or lunch box in the morning. If you’d like to save on packaging though, you can store yours in an airtight container, between sheets of waxed paper (so they don’t stick together).Enjoy!
Directions
cut into 32 pieces, 2 per serving

Number of Servings: 16

Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user DAVEE23.

Servings Per Recipe: 16
Nutritional Info Amount Per Serving
  • Calories: 252.2
  • Total Fat: 13.3 g
  • Cholesterol: 7.6 mg
  • Sodium: 97.8 mg
  • Total Carbs: 30.6 g
  • Dietary Fiber: 3.4 g
  • Protein: 6.1 g

Member Reviews
  • INDIANOAKS
    LOVE this recipe!! My husband and daughter eat these up like crazy! THANKS for the detailed directions!!! Only caution to other Sparkers is, like Dave said -- DON'T cook the stuff on the stove (AKA as "glue") TOO long-- the bars will be hard if you do... THANKS for sharing! - 6/14/10