Friday, February 25, 2011

Fruit and Nut Granola Bars

I was inspired to make my own granola bars after drooling over ones made by other bloggers like:

Anne's No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars

and Mama Pea's Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

I kinda combined both of these recipes, added a bit of my own spin, and made

Fruit and Nut Granola Bars
makes 16 bars

Adapted from Mama Pea's Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
and Anne's No Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars




Ingredients:

2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1 cup crispy brown rice cereal

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp. baking soda

1/3 cup dried cranberries

1/3 cup raisins

1/3 cup chopped nuts (peanuts or almonds would be good) -* I omitted this and they are still delicious

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

1/3 cup peanut butter (I used homemade honey roasted peanut butter - SO Good)

1 tsp. vanilla

1/2 tsp salt



Preheat the oven to 325 degrees and spray an 8 x 8 pan with nonstick cooking spay.

In a large bowl combine oats, cereal, flour, baking soda, fruit, and nuts.  Set aside. 



In a small sauce pan over medium, heat the brown rice syrup, peanut butter, vanilla, and salt.  Stir continuously until mixture just begins to bowl.  Remove from heat immediately so it does not burn. 


Let cool for a minute and then pour into the bowl of dry ingredients. 



Stir until all the ingredients are mixed.  Pour the mixture into the greased 8 x 8 pan. Use our hands or a spatula to press down the granola mixture to fill the pan evenly.  


Bake at 325 for 15 -18 minutes depending on how crisp you would like your bars. 

Remove from oven and let cool.  After the bars have cooled, cut into 16 squares.   Store in an airtight container.

Enjoy!!



I think the homemade peanut butter really made these bars fantastic!  The little bit of sugar in the honey roasted peanuts gave the bars a sweet and salty flavor.  When I heated up the brown rice syrup and the peanut butter it smelled like peanut brittle so I had to take a taste.  It tasted just like liquid peanut brittle!!  SO yummy!!!  I would definitely recommend using honey roasted peanut butter in this recipe.   



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