Question: how do I make granola/snack bars?

Cafe Society
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Question: how do I make granola/snack bars?

Thanks to a recent sale at work I picked up some South Beach Good To Go Bars. Randomly chosen example. They’re basically a slightly more nutritious version of a candy or granola bar. They’re decent and I’ve been chucking one into my work lunch bag as a snack or dessert. Between the whole grains and the protein they seem more satisfying than a real candy bar.

(I also thought it would be nice to know what they tasted like because customers ask me questions about them frequently, and being able to say “yes, I’ve tried them” seems a positive for customers. But that’s a bit of a digression.)

It occurs to me that I could probably make something of this sort at home. It may or may not be less money depending on what ingredients I use, but I haven’t done anything of this sort before and thought maybe I could ask for some advice from other cooks before I commence making a mess of my kitchen (again).

I’m not so much interested in a specific recipe as the general concept - I figure once I have some guidelines I can make my own recipes and experiments. So… typically these are some sort of grain item, usually nuts/fruits chopped into bits, and some sort of binder, right? Generally something sweet and slightly gooey as binder, right? (Mmm… calories…) Sounds sort of like rice crispy bars, which is probably the closest thing I’ve made to this sort of thing

I tried googling, but most of what I found either required you to sign up for something or was click-bait or some self-involved video or picture montage of someone making something rather than an actual recipe to follow.

So… basic recipes? Advice?

I’m not looking to make this into a wonderful health food. Something chewy/crunchy/tasty is the first goal, protein and fiber being a bonus.

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I’ve used this recipe as general guidelines, and there’s a bunch of suggestions and comments to personalize. I’ve really just used whatever nuts and dried fruits I have on hand and had some nice results, which I’ve frozen. I usually use golden syrup as my sticky-of-choice, but whatever liquid sugar you have will work.

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Really, only one reply?

OK, here’s the first granola bar adventure:

Keeping in mind a 6:1 ratio of crunchy to gooey seems a common denominator, and looking over a variety of recipes as well as what was in my pantry as well as available at the local Aldi, I opted for walnuts, dates, oats, crispy rice, almond butter, and honey.

First problem: the honey had crystallized into something akin to the “amber” on Fringe. Quick trip to the internet to figure out how to de-crystallize honey. Said 30 seconds in the microwave, and stir. Doing this, in our relatively high powered microwave, resulted in a gritty sludge. Mind you, it tasted alright, but was sludgy and poured about as well as cold molasses, so in it went for another 15 seconds.

Next problem(s): both the “chopped” walnuts and “chopped” dates were in bigger pieces than I really wanted, so I got out my favorite chef’s knife and commenced further chopping. Hmm… I guess all those “15 minute prep times” were contingent on things like food processors and liquid honey. Oh, well, it’s my day off and I’m not in a hurry. Chop chop chop.

The amount of gooey stuff seems inadequate at first, and you really have to work it into the dry ingredients thoroughly. It was more like kneading stiff dough than anything else.

Anyhow, here’s the ingredients for the first attempt:

1/4 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1-1/2 cups oat flakes
1 cup crispy rice
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup almond butter

Combine dry ingredients in a bowl and set aside.

Grease a small cake pan – I used my 8x8 brownie pan and set it aside.

In a small (I emphasize small) saucepan heat up the honey and almond butter. On the upside, this heating will thoroughly de-crystallize any semi-solid bits in your honey. Keep the heat low, you are just heating this up, not boiling anything. Blend well.

Pour the gooey stuff into the dry stuff and stir/mix/knead until all the dry stuff is coated with gooey stuff. Put this mix into the greased pan and pack it in hard. I mean HARD, really, smoosh it down, put some body weight into it.

Put pan in refrigerator for 15 minutes (did I mention this was a no-bake recipe? Other than heating up the “sauce”).

Remove pan and cut apart bars. A lot of sites recommended a pizza cutter so that’s what I used. Worked pretty well. They came out of the pan as actual bars and left little residue behind.

The bars were a bit less cohesive than commercially made bars but nicely chewy/crunchy. I sprinkled a little cinnamon on top and it definitely improved them. I’m thinking that if I take these to work I might freeze them overnight to help keep them solid until lunch time despite knocking around the lunch bag.

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This is the recipe I use. I got it from one of my old Penzeys spice catalogs. I will often sub dried fruit for the coconut and use a little less brown sugar and honey. It makes a large pan. They freeze very well.

Penzeys Trail Bars

• 1-1/2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
• 1-1/2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsps cinnamon
• 1 cup unsalted butter (softened)
• 1/2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 eggs (slightly beaten)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 1 tsp almond extract
• 1/2 cup orange juice
• 6 ozs shredded coconut

Preheat oven to 350.

In a medium bowl, mix oatmeal, flour, wheat germ, baking powder, salt, and cinnamon.

In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar together at medium speed.

While beating, add eggs, honey and vanilla and almond extracts in a steady stream.
Beat well.

Using a large spoon, fold ingredients into the butter/sugar mix in the following order: half the dry ingredients, half the orange juice, all the coconut, remaining juice, then remaining dry ingredients; making sure everything is fully incorporated before adding the next item.

Pour into an ungreased 9X13 pan.

Bake at 350 for 30-35 minutes.

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"OMG, asking for recipes for granola bars and no replies? WTF! Dopers should be all over this like hipsters on beards and kitties on the Net. What is going on?

It couldn’t be … it could not be that … that my rep is in … in - no, I refuse to even think it! Once you give in to falsities, they will run your life!"

Note: an aside from this poster - poor araminty.

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Er… I just thought, given the vast numbers of granola bars offered for sale in stores these days, that there was some interest in the topic. I’m puzzled bu the relevance of the rest of your post to this thread.

But, if the forum in general has no interest in the topic it’s no skin off my nose.

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This personal jab is out of place for this thread and forum. Knock it off.