How to make homemade granola bars

Do you ever stand in the aisle at the supermarket and say, “Hey, I could make that!” I do that a lot — especially these days, when it seems the price of everything from a box of crackers to a pound of eggplant is starting to mirror the GNP of, say, Algeria. 

That's definitely the case for homemade granola bars — give these Chewy Granola Bars a try, and you can add another “I can make that!” to your list of accomplishments.

How to make homemade granola bars

First, decide what you want to use as your add-ins. You'll need 2 to 3 cups of your favorite dried fruits and nuts and seeds.

Today, I've chosen diced apricots, dried cranberries, sunflower seeds, walnuts, and coconut. 

The recipe calls for 1/3 cup of oat flour. If you don't have oat flour, process quick oats in a food processor...

... until they look like this.

Combine all of the dry ingredients in a large bowl. This recipe calls for sticky bun sugar, which gives the bars a nicely chewy interior and pleasingly crisp edge. If you don't have sticky bun sugar, you can substitute butter, corn syrup, and granulated sugar. The results won't be quite the same, texture-wise, but the bars will be tasty.

Combine the wet ingredients, then add to the dry ingredients, stirring to combine. The mixture won't hold together; it'll be crumbly.

Press into a greased 9” x 13” pan.

Bake for about 25 minutes, till they're bubbly and beginning to brown, especially around the edges. Wait 10 minutes, then loosen the edges thoroughly, and cut into bars. Flop the pan upside-down; the bars should drop out, pretty much in a complete piece. Finish cutting them and separate them completely once they're out of the pan.

Let them cool completely, then store in a single layer, covered with plastic. Or individually wrapped, if your family just HAS to have that unwrapping experience in order to enjoy a granola bar...

Can I make crunchy granola bars?

Not with this recipe! Crunchy bars start with an entirely different recipe, one that probably includes flour and egg. I say probably because I've been dubbing around, but haven't finalized anything, and probably won't anytime soon. But who knows!

Read, review, and rate (please!) our recipe for Chewy Granola Bars.