Name: Chewy Granola Bars
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 25 min
Total time: 45 min
Yield: 24
Ingredients: 1/2 C butter, softened; 1 C packed brown sugar; 1/4 C granulated sugar; 2 tbsp honey; 1/2 tsp vanilla extract; 1 egg; 1 C all-purpose flour; 1 tsp ground cinnamon; 1/2 tsp baking powder; 1/4 tsp salt; 1 1/2 C quick-cooking oats; 1 1/4 C crisp rice cereal; 3/4 C chopped nuts; 1 C currants or raisins; 1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

When I don’t have time for a meal, one of my favorite go-to quick snacks is an oatmeal snack bar with mini chocolate chips. They’re great for a mid-morning break with coffee or whenever my stomach starts grumbling (which it does around 10:30 a.m. every morning).

My store-bought bars are really good. I wanted to make some that are comparable, but know exactly what ingredients are in them.

These Chewy Granola Bars from Virginia Krites in the Taste of Home Baking Cookbook have some great ingredients – including honey, cinnamon, oats and crisp rice cereal (aka. Rice Krispies).

You can change the ingredients around by putting in what you have handy. I put chocolate chips, currants (leftover from an Irish Soda Bread recipe) and some homegrown front yard pecans.

I loved the crunch of the krispies along with the the chewy texture of the oatmeal. The honey and touch of cinnamon gave them such a different, deep, delicious flavor.

I’ll definitely be making these homemade Chewy Granola Bars again. They were fairly easy to make (grease that pan well, by the way) and they freeze well. The flavors, textures, and bits of chocolate make them perfect for a quick, delicious snack break.

And, most importantly, I know what’s in them!

Chewy Granola Bars

Yield: 24 bars

Prep Time: 20 minutes

Cook Time: 25 minutes

Total Time: 45 minutes

Chocolate chips, crispy cereal along with chewy oatmeal and cinnamon.

Ingredients

1/2 C butter, softened
1 C packed brown sugar
1/4 C granulated sugar
2 tbsp honey
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 egg
1 C all-purpose flour
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp salt
1 1/2 C quick-cooking oats
1 1/4 C crisp rice cereal
3/4 C chopped nuts
1 C currants or raisins
1/2 C semisweet chocolate chips

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350°.
In a large mixing bowl, cream butter and sugars until light and fluffy (scrape down sides of bowl several times). Add the honey, vanilla and egg; mix well.
In a separate bowl, combine the flour, cinnamon, baking powder and salt. Gradually add to the creamed mixture about 1/4 cup at a time. Stir in the oats, cereal, nuts, raisins, and chocolate chips (if using).
Spray or grease a 13x9x2" baking pan. Pour the dough into the pan, patting down lightly to make sure it's of even thickness. Bake 20-25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Cool in the pan on a wire rack, then cut into bars.

Notes

Tips and Stuff:

While your butter and sugars are getting fluffy in the mixer, stir the flour mixture together - it saves a little time.

These would be good with dried cranberries for the holidays.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 24 Serving Size: 1 bar
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 202Total Fat: 9gSaturated Fat: 4gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 5gCholesterol: 18mgSodium: 105mgCarbohydrates: 30gFiber: 2gSugar: 18gProtein: 3g

Nutrition Values are Approximate

It seems like I learn something new with every recipe, including these Chewy Almond-Date Bars from a recent Cooking Light issue. I thought these looked great – they’re full of luscious fruits and nuts that come together to make soft, crunchy bars.

These bars are so easy to throw together. I don’t have a food processor, but have an awesome KitchenAid blender and it met its match on these bars, mainly due to negligence on my part. Who would’ve thought dates have pits in them? My Mom always used the boxed kind and those didn’t have pits. Apparently when you buy the really good medjool dates from Central Market, they do….

I won’t go into the dramatic hard-pits-don’t-blend details, but after discovering my error, the revised fruit and nut mixture (sans pits) came together nicely. The bars were soft and sweet with a nice crunch from the rice cereal. Plus, I felt like I was eating healthy!

Almond-Date Bars remind me of the Date Nut Balls my Mom used to make every Christmas, but this version comes in at less than 160 tasty and healthier calories per bar.

They’ll definitely stay in my keeper file!