My husband loves to snack on granola bars.
He likes to snack in general. Watching movie – snacking. Bored – snacking. Working in front of the computer – snacking. So he always likes to have things to snack on. Chips, granola bars, pop-tarts, chocolate chips cookies, trail-mix. If for some reason we do not have any of those things he will go through our kitchen cabins every 10 minutes trying to find something. It looks like he has an amnesia and he doesn’t remember that 10 minutes ago he did the same and in those 10 minutes nothing has changed in our kitchen. No snack magically appeared.
One day we decided to try to make granola bars. It’s cheaper and much healthier. Granola bars I made are packed with calories but, at least, I know and can pronounce every single ingredient.
Ingredients for the granola bars:
- 1 cup oat flour (or 1 cup oats finely ground in blender or food processor)
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 salt
- 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 Tbsp unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1/2 cup unpacked brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup unsweetened apple sauce (I used homemade)*
- 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups quick oats
- 1/2 cup raisins
- 1/2 chopped mixed nuts (of your choice)
for the glaze
4 oz milk chocolate bar
or
6 oz semisweet (or milk chocolate) chocolate chips
1 Tbsp milk
Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350°; line a 9 x 9 baking pan with a parchment paper, long enough to go up over the sides. Lightly spray with oil.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together oat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon.
3. In a large bowl, with a mixer cream together the butter and the sugar on medium speed.
4. Add the egg followed by the honey, applesauce* and vanilla extract.
5. Working by hand, stir in the flour mixture and the oats until just combined and no streaks of flour remain; stir in raisins and nuts.
6. Spoon oats onto prepared baking dish, flattening to make even. Bake for about 23-25 minutes, or until light brown at the edges. They will seem soft and undercooked, but once they cool they will set completely.
7. While the granola cake is cooling melt over double bath and constantly stirring the chocolate bar or chocolate chips with 1 Tbsp milk.
8. When everything is evenly melted and there is no remaining pieces of chocolate pour the mixture over the top of the granola cake and spread it around with a knife.
9. Let it cool overnight or in the fridge for a few hours.
10. Cut into desire pieces.
The first time I made it I forgot to add the oats at the end and we ended up with mushy mixture with granola like taste that we had to eat with a spoon.
The second time I used regular oats instead of quick and for my taste it came out too dry.
Next time I’m going to try out this recipe: no-baked chewy granola bars. Will see which one are better 🙂
* to make an applesauce just enough for this recipe:
In a saucepan, combine peeled, cored and cut into small cubes 1 apple, 3 Tbsp water (I always use orange juice), 1/4 tsp cinnamon. Cover, and cook over medium low heat for 15 minutes, or until the apple is soft. While cooking check if more water (juice) is needed. If yes, add 1 Tbsp. Allow to cool, then mash with a fork or potato masher.
Recipe adapted from Skinny taste.
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