Cooking For Two

So the husband and I like granola bars. They’re chewy, sweet, satisfying and expensive. I’ve been reading several recipes and am trying different things.

My first attempt: (and these are estimated measurements)

2c rolled oats

1/4c toasted wheat germ

1/4c flax meal

1c whole wheat naturally white flour

3/4c packed light brown sugar

2/3c whole raw almonds

1/2c chopped walnuts

1/2c chopped pecans

1 c raw sunflower seed kernels

2/3c chocolate chips

1/2c dried blueberries

1/2c dried cranberries

1 tsp salt

1/2c honey

2 tsp vanilla

1/2c extra light olive oil

1 egg

Mix all dry ingredients together in a large bowl until combined. Mix all wet ingredients in separate bowl until well blended. Add wet mixture to dry mixture and mix well. Press into 9 x 13″ baking dish that is well greased and bake 30 mins in 350F oven or until edges begin to brown. Cut while warm.

Notes:

These are good, chewy and hearty, but too thick. I think it would’ve been better to split the mixture in half and press it into two baking dishes instead of one. I also think these need to cool down a decent amount before you cut them. They’re very fragile until they’ve had time to sit for several hours, but they do need to be cut while still warm because once they cool it’s next to impossible to cut them. My husband didn’t care for the chocolate chips in them, but loved everything else about them.

Next time:

I’ll divide the mixture and omit the chocolate chips. I also think I could cut down drastically on the sugars used in this recipe. It was plenty sweet with the fruit and honey, I’m not sure the brown sugar is necessary or perhaps both sugars can be reduced by half or, at minimum, by 1/3.