Wednesday, January 14, 2015

Granola Energy Bars - TWD: Baking Chez Moi

Next installment of Tuesdays with Dorie, Baking Chez Moi.  The recipe is Granola Energy Bars.
I hadn't planned on preparing this recipe (still reeling from the busy-ness of December :-), but then I looked at the Tuesdays with Dorie site today and saw the links and comments from the group on how easy this recipe is, and figured I could whip it up after work with ingredients on hand.
I'm so glad I did!  It's basically a recipe for homemade granola bars, something I've tried to make a couple of times before.  I've never really found a recipe that's just right before, but I really like this one. This will be a great snack to have on hand for our post-holiday withdrawal - sweet, but grainy and nutty too.  And it was indeed, very easy.

You lightly toast 2 cups of rolled oats and 1 cup of nuts.  She suggests sliced almonds, pepitas and sunflower seeds - I used sliced almonds and roughly chopped macadamia nuts and hazelnuts, because that's what I had on hand.   Mix in dried fruit (1 cup) and coconut, and a bit of salt.   Here's the dry mixture:

Next, you boil together a bit of butter and some brown rice syrup (the secret ingredient to make the bars hold together!), and then pour it over the dry mixture.  Press that into a parchment lined pan, and then bake.  It has to cool completely before cutting.  I will definitely try this one again - planning to experiment with different combinations of fruits and nuts.  It looks like some of the other bakers in the group have tried chocolate - sounds like a bit of a trick to figure out how to get the chocolate chips or chunks in there and not melt them with the hot syrup.  I'll just have to experiment....

9 comments:

  1. Hi Kathleen, I used chocolate chips and just added them with the dried fruit and they turned out great. There are so many options for these bars it's great!

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  2. Not that chocolate all over is a bad thing.... :-)

    So good to have an month of easy recipes to ease into the new year. :-)

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  3. Funny, I planned on skipping this one, and at the last moment thought it would be a learning experience! We loved them! Yours look great!

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  4. Wasn't it great that you could just use whatever you had on hand to make these? I'm glad you gave them a try - they look and sound delicious.

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  5. I was happy I made this one as well! So good. You are in good company each time wondering if I will make that one or not. Usually I do and am always happy I did. Your bars look lovely.

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  6. Your bars looks great! I like how you cut them into smaller servings -- better for the post-holiday waistline!

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  7. These were so easy to prepare and so delicious. A winner all around.

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  8. This is a great recipe to test with. So easy and it seems like pretty much every combination has turned out delicious.

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  9. Your version sounds good. Glad you gave it a try and enjoyed them. I was happy to make these after the holidays, rather than something more decadent.

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