Granola Bars (From 30 Day Gourmet Cooking Manual)
For 16 Bars
1/3 cup oil (I use Olive)
3/4 cup brown sugar
2 T honey
1 t Vanilla
1 egg
1 Cup Whole Wheat Flour
1 t Cinnamon
1/2 t baking powder
1/4 t salt
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2 cups crisp rice cereal ( I use the cheap Aldi’s brand with fine results)
1 cup chopped nuts
Optional: one cup of either raisins, chocolate chips (I use chocoloate chips), peanut butter chips, carob chips, or chopped dried fruit.
Combine oil, brown sugar, honey, vanilla, and egg.
Add flour, cinnamon, baking poowder and salt. Mix well
Stir in nuts, oats, and cereal and optionals.
Spray 9X13 pan. Press mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. For chewy bars, 350 for 20-30 minutes until lightly browned on edges. For crunchy, bake at 300 until brown all over, about 40-50 minutes.
Cool completely, then cut into bars. I use a pizza cutter.
When they are cool, I store them in small baggies, about 4-5 in a package. Great to grab a baggie for a snack at the pool or at the park in the summer.
I got ambitious one year and made a huge batch (96) and it was way too much work! From then on, I mixed them in batches to make 48 bars, which was much more manageable.
