Granola Bars!

I am a big fan of Smitten Kitchen & very often make the recipes that are posted by her. I saw this recipe the other day, it is not the first time she has posted it & I have always thought it looked good.We are travelling soon & I  was going to buy a box of granola bars to take some on the plane, but decided to make these instead! One of the things I like about this recipe is the flexibility of the ingredients. I added chopped up dates & walnuts. They are addictive! Hopefully we won’t eat them all before we get on the plane!

Here is the link to the original recipe

https://smittenkitchen.com/2010/02/thick-chewy-granola-bars/

Here is my recipe adapted from  Smittenkitchen.com   thick chewy granola bars

 

Date & Walnut Granola Bars

Ingredients

1 2/3 cup quick oats

1/2 cup sugar

1/3 cup oat flour   *** as per the original recipe, put oats in the food processor and process until they are a fine texture

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1 cup dates, chopped

1/2 cup coconut

1 cup walnuts, chopped

1/4 cup sunflower seeds

6 tbsp melted butter

1/4 cup maple syrup

2 tbsp corn syrup

1 tbsp water

1/3 cup natural chunky peanut butter *** I used Adams peanut butter … left over from some  peanut butter cookies I baked

 

Method

Pre-heat the oven to 350f

Line an 8×8 square pan with parchment paper letting it hang over 2 sides to pull the granola bars out of the pan when they are cool…spray the parchment paper with cooking spray for easy release of the bars

1. Mix the oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, dates, coconut, walnuts & sunflower seeds together in a large bowl
2. Combine the melted butter, maple syrup, corn syrup. water & peanut butter together
3. Add the wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, mixing until all the dry ingredients are moist
4. Put into the prepared pan & pat down firmly, I wet my hands a bit just so that they didn’t get too sticky.
5. Bake for approx 35 to 40 minutes until brown around the edges. I baked mine for the whole 40 minutes because I like crunchy edges!
6. When finished baking, place the pan on a wire rack to cool completely.  Remove from the pan by lifting with the parchment paper. Place on a firm surface and cut into your desired size & shape of bar. I used a knife that was not serrated. They crumbled a bit so I just held them together as I cut them. ***I couldn’t wait until they were completely cool because I wanted to eat one…so mine were just slightly warm still & I think that helped with the crumbling as I could just put them back together since they were still a bit pliable.