Scrumptious Chewy Homemade Granola Bars

This recipe comes from Janet and Greta Podleski, authors of Eat, Shrink and Be Merry. I am signed up to receive new recipes once a month from these lovely ladies and I am told that this recipe will be featured in their upcoming cookbook, Looneyspoons Collection, which will be published in time for Christmas sales, 2011.

I continue to look for healthy granola bar recipes and this one is good. I found it was a little bit crumbly, but that may have been because I used pureed oats instead of flour. Given the fact that there is very little fat in it, I think it stayed together very well.

Dry Ingredients

2½ cups quick-cooking oats (not instant)

1 cup unsweetened shredded coconut

½ cup chopped raw almonds, pecans, or pistachios

½ cup chopped dried cranberries

½ cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips

1/3 cup whole wheat flour (Need gluten-free? See tips below)

¼ cup ground flaxseed

1 tsp cinnamon

½ tsp salt

Wet Ingredients

¾ cup canned pure pumpkin (not pumpkin pie filling)

½ cup honey

¼ cup butter, melted

1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with parchment paper, letting the paper overhang on two opposite sides (so you can use it as a sling to pick up the granola bars after baking).

2. In a large bowl, combine all of the dry ingredients. Mix well. In a medium bowl, whisk together all of the wet ingredients. Pour wet ingredients over dry ingredients. Mix using a wooden spoon until dry ingredients are coated with pumpkin mixture. Make sure there aren’t any dry oats in the bottom of the bowl! Stir, stir, stir!

3. Pour the wet granola mixture into the prepared pan and spread it evenly to the edges. Using your hand, press down firmly on the granola so that it’s tightly packed in the pan.

4. Bake on middle oven rack for 20 to 25 minutes, until top and edges become golden. The granola might seem a little undercooked, but that’s okay. It will be soft when warm but will firm up when cooled.

5. Remove pan from oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Lift slab of granola from pan by holding on to parchment paper and transfer to a cutting board. Using a large, sharp knife, cut the granola into 16 bars, about 1½ x 4 inches each. (Tip: Press down with the knife to cut the bars and avoid a sawing motion.) 6. Wrap the bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in an airtight container, either at room temperature or in the fridge.

Makes 16 granola bars

Nutritional Information

Per bar: 210 calories, 9.7 g fat, 4 g protein, 29 g carbohydrate, 3.4 g fibre, 9 mg cholesterol, 83 mg sodium

Baking Tips:

- The smaller you chop your dried cranberries and nuts, the better the bars will hold together. These bars don’t taste really “pumpkiny.” The pumpkin simply helps to keep them moist so they’re chewy, not break-your-tooth-hard-as-rock like some granola bars.

- For a gluten-free version, make sure your oats are certified gluten-free. Replace the whole wheat flour with oat flour. Just measure an additional cup of oats and place them in a food processor, then pulse on and off until the oats are ground to a super- fine consistency, like flour. Measure 1/3 cup oat flour and use it instead of the wheat flour.

- You can use just about any dried fruit and nuts you like (dried cherries would be great!) but please keep the quantities the same, or the bars may not hold together properly. And, though we suggest you wait until the bars cool before cutting them, we have to admit that they taste extra-delicious when they’re warm.

I decided to puree my oatmeal instead of using flour

Mix dry ingredients

Mix wet ingredients

Add wet to dry and stir, stir, stir

Press into pan and bake

Using the parchment paper was so easy. I lifted the bars out of the pan and let them cool on a rack.

Slice while still warm

Now, doesn't that look good?

You can package them up for lunches and snacks