granola bars à la lannae

several weeks back, i came across a recipe for granola bars from lannae of lannae's food and travel which looked especially good. the recipe itself was very basic in terms of ingredients and seemed quite amenable to interpretation, in other words, sticking in whatever you wanted. i'm sure they are much healthier and definitely less processed than the ones you can buy ready-made. this version also makes bars which are not overly sweet, dried out and as hard as rocks.

not being a big granola bar eater, i decided to cut the recipe in half since i'd never get through all of them myself with the full recipe. i also made a few slight changes to suit my taste as i am not being a big dried fruit lover. instead, i used chocolate chips, replaced the honey part with the equivalent amount of brown rice syrup and added some wheat germ.

making these bars must have been beshayrt [yiddish for "meant to be"], as i had exactly 2 1/4 cups left of my rolled oats — definitely a close call.

this is my entry for the spice café's MBP event focusing on making something sweet using another blogger's recipe; there were tons of recipes from other fellow food bloggers that i wanted to try out but time being short, this fit the bill — all was measured, mixed and made in less than 15 minutes (baking time excluded).

i imagine these would be great using various combinations of spices and/or dried fruit, nuts or kinds of chocolate. there are myriad possibilities. all i know is that these turned out great and are definitely a winner. the recipe is also completely parve (no animal products) and vegan, if using the brown rice syrup and not honey.

thanks lannae :))

chocolate chip walnut granola bars

makes 12 bars

ingredients:

2 1/4 c rolled oats (regular type)
1/4 c all purpose flour
1/4 c wholewheat flour
1 tbsp wheat germ, opt.
2 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp salt
1/8 - 1/4 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/4 c walnuts pieces (broken up small)
3 tbsp sliced almonds, opt.
1/4 c chocolate chips

1/3 c brown rice syrup or honey
1/3 c vegetable oil

method:

preheat oven to 350F.

grease very heavily an 8 x 8 pan or line it with a square of parchment paper [the better method]. the squares will be much easier to extract this way.

place all dry ingredients together in a bowl and mix.

add the wet ingredients and mix well. note: measure the oil first and then the rice syrup or honey to make things easier. the rice syrup or honey will not stick in the measuring cup that way.

compact the mixture in the baking pan or pyrex with a lot of pressure. it should be very dense and not loose. it may seem a bit dry at this point.

bake for 30 minutes or until nice and golden. the mixture will puff up a bit but will go down upon cooling.

remove from oven and wait 15 to 20 minutes to cut into desired shapes. tip: use an oiled knife so the granola bars don't stick; re-oil the knife as necessary.

now the hard part, wait until they are completely cool or they will not hold together well.

enjoy!