Homemade Granola Bars No Bake First Attempt

Today, I had a hankering for granola bars. Not the Quaker kind, but the yummy, nutty, chewy, homemade kind.

The last two summers I lived in Michigan my parents had a membership to this beautiful golf resort in northern Michigan, Garland Lodge and Resort.



Yep, that is one of the courses. I hit many a golf ball in that water.

I really hate golf, but I love spending time with my family--and as the darling drink cart girls would come around I found that they had these amazing homemade granola bars. Those granola bars were the reason I would go golfing. I think they  were about $4 a piece, but they were worth every penny.

So, I googled and googled and found a recipe that I liked a lot. It wasn't a Garland recipe, but they are probably a lot healthier.

http://freezeyourwayfit.blogspot.com/2011/03/clean-eating-healthy-homemade-granola.html

I had to go to HEB anyway and got my list of ingredients together. I actually bought almost everything I needed in the bulk food section sans the Rice Krispie cereal and the chocolate chips. I think the bulk food section is the way to go--it is so much cheaper and I got a lot of organic stuff.

Ingredients:

• ½ cup dry roasted peanuts or other nuts
• ½ cup roasted unsalted sunflower seeds (I actually got the student mix from HEB because it had the peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins and  BONUS: pumpkin seeds!)
• 1 2/3 cups raisins or other chopped dried fruit
• 1/3 cup chocolate chips
• 2 cups rolled or instant oats
• ¼ cup toasted wheat germ (optional) (I did not use because I couldn't find it in bulk)
• 2 cups toasted or puffed whole grain cereal (I use Arrowhead Mills Puffed Millet. You can use Rice Krispies in a pinch but they are not whole grain) (I did the Rice Krispies)
• ½ cup creamy natural peanut butter or other nut butter (I used reduced fat HEB peanut butter)
• ½ cup honey
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

Yes, there are seven steps to this recipe. The person who wrote this recipe has beautiful step by step instructions with pictures. For the sake of time, I followed her pictures but didn't think to take my own.

ONE: Coat a 9x13 inch pan with cooking spray. Combine peanuts, sunflower seeds, raisins, chocolate chips, oats, cereal, and wheat germ in a large bowl. Mix well.

TWO: Combine peanut butter and honey in a large microwaveable bowl (tip: Use a 2 cup glass measuring cup. Pour the 1/2 cup of honey in first and then just drop plops of peanut butter in until the level reaches 1 cup. This saves you from measuring out the ½ cup of peanut butter and making another utensil dirty).

THREE: Microwave on High for 1 minute, stir well, and microwave for an additional minute or until bubbling....(in true Katie Fashion, I forgot about the extra minute and it was more than ok.) Add vanilla and stir until blended.

FOUR: Pour half of the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients and mix it for a good 5 minutes until it's almost completely coated.

FIVE: Once it's totally mixed, pour the other half of the peanut butter mixture in, scraping every last drop out of the measuring cup. Repeat the slicing and mixing again. The mixing is so important because anything that is not sticking together going into the pan will likely not stick to the bar coming out.

SIX: Once the mixture has formed into a fairly solid ball, transfer it to the prepared pan. Press down firmly (it helps to coat your fingers with cooking spray). Really put some muscle into it because you want the granola mixture to be actual bars and not crumbs.

SEVEN: Cover and refrigerate for at least 1 hour to harden...it may be best to keep them in overnight...but I couldn't wait that long. Cut into 16 bars. 

As you can see, we had to sample a few. But, they are delicious! They did break apart a little, but that is what I get for not measuring the peanut butter. I admit, I just eyeballed it.

NUTRITION INFO:
Per 1 bar serving (cut into 16 bars)- 293 Calories (95 Calories from Fat), 11g Fat, 2g Saturated Fat, 0mg Cholesterol, 5mg Sodium, 44g Total Carbohydrates, 5g Dietary Fiber, 22g Sugars, 9g Protein, 0% DV Vitamin A, 1% DV Vitamin C, 3% DV Calcium, 11% DV Iron