Granola Bars

Matheus loves granola bars; he likes to eat them for breakfast, and sometimes as a snack as well. Granola bars are yummy and even sound like a healthy treat, however if you don’t pay attention to the ingredient list of store bought ones you could be ingesting a lot of not so good for you stuff together with a little of the healthy oatmeal and dried fruits (and I mean things I read and can’t even pronounce…).
As a nice mom who happens to love cooking and experimenting, I decided to try a few granola recipes for Matheus’ breakfasts, this way at least I know what he is eating and make sure he is getting some proper nutrition before sending him off to pre-school!
I tried a couple recipes already and this one was the absolutely winner. So much so that I didn’t even try another one, since Matheus declared he loved these and has been happily requesting them for breakfast!
Granola Bars III came from the website allrecipes. They are super easy to make, simple and yet delicious!
I have made them with both chocolate chips and dried fruits (dried cherries and raisins), and they were equally good (omited the walnuts both times I made). Matheus liked the chocolate chips ones better though!
The bars are chewy, kind of moist but with a nice texture to it. They also freeze remarkably well; just let them sit on the counter for a few hours (or overnight) to thaw, or a quick 20 seconds on the microwave will quickly do the trick for you.
I am sorry for the picture, I know they didn’t come out very good-looking bars, but they sure tasted great!
Ana

Granola Bars III (allrecipes.com)
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
3/4 cup raisins
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped English walnuts
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray.
In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan.
Bake 25 to 30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars.