A Granola Bar Weekend

Earlier this week I entered the office pool for a $320 million power ball drawing. This is the only time I ever buy lottery tickets. We do it a couple of times per year when the prize has gotten particularly large. Each time we all start talking about how the office will be empty on Monday morning, except for the few unfortunate souls who decided to save their $2 and not enter the pool. This time I thought to myself, "If I win, I will quit my job and become a full time baking blogger. I will spend my days baking and writing about it." I think this would be quite wonderful, but alas the drawing has come and gone and we did not win. I was discussing this at brunch at a friend's house yesterday and someone said "But couldn't you be a part time baking blogger?" This is of course is what I aspire to do, but can never find the time to do. However, I was inspired to make the time for it this weekend, especially given I had plans to try out two different granola bar recipe experiments this weekend. And so with that, just shy of one year since my last post, I am blogging once again. Now, on to the granola bars.

For quite some time I have been wanting to create the perfect granola bar recipe. While I love to bake and eat decadent things, I am generally a person who eats quite healthy, with the not-so-healthy things eaten in moderation. I also find granola bars to be a pretty good on-the-go snack and while there are a few types of granola bars I will buy, I don't love any of them. Granola bars are often considered to be a healthy snack, but there are many of them (store-bought or homemade) that aren't any better for you than cookies. So, about a year ago I started experimenting with granola bar recipes, on a quest to craft my own recipe. The requirements were that the bars taste delicious, hold together, and not be overly loaded with fat and sugar.

I started off by modifying this recipe for Thicky, Chewy Granola Bars from Smitten Kitchen, which is a modified version of a recipe from King Arthur Flour. In my first attempt, I cut down the butter by 2 tbs, replaced the corn syrup with honey, and reduced the amount of granulated sugar. These granola bars tasted wonderful, but they crumbled into pieces. So in my next attempt, I tried adding an egg white, which I hoped would help the bars hold together without adding more fat or sugar. I also used chopped dates as one of the dried fruits, thinking that their stickiness would add some extra glue. It was a success! I continue to tinker with my recipe because I don't think it's perfect yet. I've mastered the hold together part, and I think they taste pretty good, but I still want to see if the sugar and fat can be reduced further without sacrificing flavor. A few weeks ago I had a thought that I could try adding some mashed banana, which would taste yummy and allow me to cut down on the amount of added sugar. So, this weekend I set out to try the banana version, as well as further tinker with the basic recipe. The result: two tasty batches of granola bars.

Banana Peanut Butter Granola Bars
2 cups old fashioned oats, 1 2/3 cups whole and 1/3 cup ground in food processor
1/2 cup wheat germ*
3/4 cup raisins
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
pinch of salt
1/3 cup peanut butter
2 tbs butter
1 mashed banana
1/2 cup pureed medjool dates
1 tsp vanilla
1 lightly beaten egg white

Preheat oven to 350. Line 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Mix the whole and ground oats, wheat germ, raisins, almonds, and salt in a large bowl. Melt the peanut butter and butter together in a small sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in banana, date puree, vanilla, and egg white. Add peanut butter mixture to oat mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Dump into pan and use spoon to flatten out. Bake for 35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Place pan on cooling rack and let cool completely. Don't try to cheat on this step and remove the bars before they are completely cool. You risk having them crumble. Lift out of pan using parchment paper and cut into bars. Wrap individually in plastic wrap. Bars can be kept at room temperature for a few days and also freeze well.





*For those who cannot have wheat, the wheat germ is not essential. You could replace it with more ground oats, nuts, or coconut.

Peanut Butter Fruit and Nut Granola Bars
2 cups old fashioned oats, 1 2/3 cups whole and 1/3 cup ground in food processor
1/2 cup wheat germ*
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried apples, chopped
1/2 cup dates, chopped
1 cup slivered almonds, toasted
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup peanut butter
4 tbs butter
1 tbs water
1 tsp vanilla
1 slightly beaten egg white

Preheat oven to 350. Line 9x13 pan with parchment paper. Mix the whole and ground oats, wheat germ, raisins, apples, dates, almonds, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl. Melt the peanut butter, butter, and honey together with the water in a small sauce pan over low heat. Remove from heat and let cool slightly. Stir in vanilla and egg white. Add peanut butter mixture to oat mixture and stir until fully incorporated. Dump into pan and use spoon to flatten out. Bake for 35 minutes, or until lightly browned on top. Place pan on cooling rack and let cool completely. Don't try to cheat on this step and remove the bars before they are completely cool. You risk having them crumble. Lift out of pan using parchment paper and cut into bars. Wrap individually in plastic wrap. Bars can be kept at room temperature for a few days and also freeze well.

*For those who cannot have wheat, the wheat germ is not essential. You could replace it with more ground oats, nuts, or coconut.

Enjoy!