Saturday, January 14, 2012

Granola Bars

My family loves Granola. My husband's mother has an amazing recipe for granola; however, it includes an ingredient local to their area and I don't live there. I have yet to find a good granola recipe that doesn't cost a fortune, and if I am honest I haven't looked that far.
My family also loves granola bars so I wanted to see if I could make some that were tasty. I have adapted this recipe from Katie's site. I have changes it up a little bit so I will include the recipe I did here.

Granola Bars

1/4 cup Plain, fat free yogurt
2 Tbsp. Agave Nectar (you can also use honey)
1/2 cup Brown sugar
1/2 cup Egg Beaters
1 tsp. Vanilla extract
3 cups Old fashioned oats
1 cup Whole wheat pastry flour
1/4 cup Ground flax seed
1 cup Unsweetened applesauce
1/2 tsp. Salt
1 tsp. Cinnamon
1/3 cup Golden raisins (or regular, whatever you like)
1/2 cup Mini chocolate chips
1/2 cup Sliced Almonds **optional
*The original recipe calls for 1-1/2 tsp. Baking soda. I do not use Baking Soda in any of my cooking because it gives me really bad heartburn. You can put it in with the dry ingredients if you use it.*

Preheat oven to 325. In a large mixing bowl, beat yogurt, agave nectar, and sugar until creamy. Add applesauce, eggs, and vanilla and beat well.  In a separate bowl, combine oats, flour, flax, salt, and cinnamon.  Add the dry ingredients to creamed mixture.  Stir in almonds (if using), raisins, and chocolate chips. Prepare a 9x13 pan with cooking spray. Spread batter in pan and bake 20-25 minutes until lightly browned. Let cool, and cut into bars.

I doubled this recipe and use a Sheet Pan to cook them in. I always put parchment paper under my baking to help the bottoms not burn and for easier removal. I bet you could also use different dried fruits in this and it would be great.

2 comments:

Jennifer Rae said...

Loved this... still think coconut would be awesome. So tasty

Alicia said...

I will have to add coconut next time.