StraightFromScratchGranolaBars

Homemade Granola Bars

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees.

Ingredients (use whatever kind of nuts you want. I used slivered almonds instead of peanuts, and added pumpkin seeds. I also used xylitol in place of the brown sugar. I also added roughly 3/4 cup bittersweet chocolate chips):

* 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 fruit

Crush your peanuts, put them in a plastic bag and smash them with a heavy mallet.

Then, 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.

Line a glass 11x13 glass baking dish 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.

Mix the grains, the liquid “glue,” and the dried fruit.

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.

Wrap individual bars into plastic wrap.