A few weeks ago I decided to ditch the store-bought granola bars. I felt guilty every time I threw away one of those little unrecycleable wrappers. And we eat a lot of granola bars in our house. We had already put a moratorium on anything individually packaged but had never thought of granola bars as being individually packaged for some silly reason...maybe because they don't come any other way? I don't know.
I happened across a recipe for peanut butter granola bars that sounded yummy, but used a little more butter than I'd like and came out a bit too crumbly -- especially for a messy 3 year old who likes to eat on the run. Over the past few weeks I've tweaked the recipe several times (and eaten a lot of granola bars) and finally came up with something that works for us. I am trying to use organic ingredients, but still have a few non-organic things on-hand like the rolled oats.
~*Peanut Butter Granola Bars*~
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
Ingredients:
2 cups rolled oats
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
2 Tbsp ground flax seed
Dash of salt
4 Tbsp butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup applesauce
In a bowl, mix the oats, flour, flax and salt. Set aside. In a pan over medium heat, melt butter, peanut butter, honey and brown sugar together. Remove from heat and stir in applesauce. Add mixture into the bowl with dry ingredients and mix thoroughly. Pour into a greased 9"x9" pan and press with fork or spatula. Cook at 350 degrees for around 25 minutes or until golden brown.
Important: Allow the granola bars to cool completely before cutting with a sharp knife. They tend to crumble if you cut them while they're still warm. Cut and store in a container in the refrigerator for 7 - 10 days. I actually find they're best after a day or so in the fridge when they've had time to congeal.
I also crumble some up and mix it in with my yogurt - it is sinfully delicious that way!!
5 comments:
Awesome!
Have you found a good recipe for a non-peanut version? The boys take granola bars to daycare, but due to peanut allergies there, cannot have ones with peanut butter.
Could you try replacing the peanut butter with sunflower 'butter' or tahini? I would have suggested other nut butters, but I have been told that a good percentage of people with peanut allergy also have tree nut allergies, so probably best not to do that.
Hmmm, I haven't looked for one, but I'll put that on my to-do list. I just ate the last one of these yesterday, so I'll be whipping up a new batch over the weekend. I'll see what I can come up with!
I am going to try your recipe. Looking for more snack ideas.
Hi Kellie,
This is a great recipe. I think there's a way to make the bars with a food dehydrator too, but I haven't tried yet. Dh and I both love them, as do our 2 dogs :) Thanks! Kristin @ www.prudentandpractical.com
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