Homemade Granola Bars

Made by baking flattened oats commingled with a motley of ingredients by the likes of honey, nuts, dates, raisins, dry fruits and occasionally rice, granola is indeed a rather sumptuous and nutritious breakfast treat, when mixed with dollops of yogurt, milk, honey, banana chunks or mash and strawberries! They are not only resemble breakfast cereals but are crisp, given the fact that their initial baking process involves stirring at short regular intervals. It is from this granola, that delectable and crunchy granola bars are made. Granola bars were the brain children of a person called Stanley Mason, who came up with the ingenious idea of compressing loose granola into rectangular and portable bars. Now of course, granola bars are quite regular features in American larders and come to the rescue in yelling situations like the ones in the popular animation sitcom 'Family Guy' where young Stewie Griffin says things like,

"Meg! Meg, I'm hungry! There's a granola bar in the cupboard. I want it!"

But, the twist in the tale lies with the fact that granola bars are quite exorbitant and add to your food budget and grocery bills substantially. So, what is the possible way out? Go the homemade granola bars way instead! Believe me, with the following granola recipes to make bars at home, you won't feel that you aren't eating a factory produced one!

Homemade Granola Bars Recipes

So, how to make homemade granola bars? Read the following recipes for some easy tips to make homemade granola bars for kids and adults as well as ways to concoct the chewy granola bar variety!

Recipe for Homemade Granola Bars for Kids
This recipe will become a much relished fixture of your child's déjeuner box, and you can store them for up to 7 days if you store in airtight jars. In fact, you can make it with your young ones! But first make sure that you have,

• Rolled oats, 2 cups
• Coconut, ½ cup (grated)
• Almonds, ½ cup (slivered)
• Sunflower seeds, ⅓ cup
• Honey, ⅓ cup
• Chocolate chips, ¼ cup (semi-sweet variety)
• Brown sugar, ¼ cup
• Butter, 4 tbsp. (unsalted variety)
• Vanilla extract, 2 tsp.
• Kosher salt, ¼ tsp.

Procedure
Begin by setting your oven at a temperature of 350 °F for it to heat up gradually. Now layer a mixture of oats, sunflower seeds and almonds evenly on a baking tray and put it for baking into the preheated oven. Remember that the baking time must not exceed ten minutes and you have to stir the mixture every 2-3 minutes, to keep it from burning. Simultaneously, you have to blend butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla extract and kosher salt thoroughly and pour it onto a heated cooking pan and stir till the sugar completely liquifies. You need to do this on a medium flame and as soon as this concoction is ready, add the heated oats to it and mix well, sprinkling coconut and chocolate chips from top. While you're on the stove, ask your kid to carefully, use half the butter to cake a 9" x 9" glass baking dish. Also, remember to reduce the temperature of the microwave to 300 °F immediately after you've taken out the oats. Finally, when you're ready with the mixture, pour it onto the baking dish and make an even layer of it. Take a flat bottomed tray and grease the bottom of it and then use it to press down on the layer. Then place it into the oven for round about 25 minutes and then what you will get is a big bar of granola. Cut out rectangular slices from this bar and wrap them with cling film. Eat at you leisure and see your kids chewing on something healthy rather happily and voluntarily!

(Tip: You may also add grounded flax, sesame seeds and wheat germ to the oats before you start baking. Also, you may throw in nuts, raisins, and dried fruits to the sugar mixture after it's done and stir once.)

Chewy Homemade Granola Bar Recipe
Now in the chewy variety, that initial roasting of the oats are done away with, to get that ultra crispy feel. To try this out, you will need,

• Rolled oats, 4 cups
• All-purpose flour, ⅔ cup
• Butter, 1 stick
• Honey, ½ cup
• Applesauce, ½ cup
• Trail mix, 12 oz.
• Chocolate chips, 2 cups (semi-sweet variety)
• Baking soda, 1 tsp.
• Vanilla extract, 1 tsp.

Procedure
Set you microwave at 325 °F for preheating and cake a 9" x 13" glass baking dish with butter. Bow, in another bowl, throw in all the ingredients and mix very well with a spatula. Then layer this mixture on the greased baking dish and compress with the greased bottom of a flat tray. Place it into the oven and bake for 20 - 25 minutes. After they have achieved a brown color, take them out and allow them to arrive at the room temperature. Finally, cut them into rectangular bars and wrap in cling film.

So, there you have both the varieties of granola bar and as you can see, both can be made within the comforts of your kitchen. Homemade granola bars must be consumed within 7 days and stored in moisture free jars. Believe me if you do not tell anyone that you've made them at home, nobody will know at all! So, try out these homemade granola bars today and let me know how well you fared.