You make granola bars.
I'm fairly certain that I have had a lot of granola and granola bars over this past month. Not that I'm complaining. It actually took awhile for me to grow into liking granola and granola bars, but I'm really glad I enjoy them now. I don't know why they weren't top on my list before (wait, maybe that's because chocolate is number one on my list-hell, it still is, really. I can't lie.) but they sit pretty high up these days.
About a year and a half back, I was into a different granola bar recipe. That one and the one I'm writing up now are pretty similar except for the boiling honey and the toasted grains. I think the other one had flour in it, which made it much more bar/cake like. This one: no flour. Makes things interesting.
And how. It's very sweet (with honey, a bunch of fruit, and some brown sugar, you'd think it sweet too!) but it's pretty much a home run (did someone say home run? Just 5 days until Opening Day!!). Not to mention it's really not difficult to do. I wish my food processor wasn't dirty-otherwise I might just have chopped the fruit in that to save time and sticky fingers. I managed though.
Granola Bars (recipe from The Barefoot Contessa, at www.foodnetwork.com)
* 2 c. old-fashioned oats
* 1 c. sliced almonds
* 1 c. shredded coconut (I used sweetened coconut though unsweetened could work just as well)
* 1/2 c, toasted wheat germ
* 3 tbsp. unsalted butter
* 2/3 c. honey
* 1/4 c. light brown sugar
* 1 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract
* 1/4 tsp. kosher salt
* 1/2 c. chopped pitted dates
* 1/2 c. chopped dried apricots
* 1/2 c. dried cranberries
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8 by 12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.
Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring and restirring every 5 minutes or so, until lightly browned. Put mixture in a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ.
Bring the oven temperature down to 300 degrees F.
Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a small pot and bring to a boil over medium heat. Let the mixture continue to cook for a minute or so and then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add the dried fruit and incorporate everything together well.
Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. If you'd rather not use your fingers you can use the back of a spoon or a spatula. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is a light golden color. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares.
No comments:
Post a Comment