No one should be surprised after I made homemade granola that I would be willing to make homemade granola bars. It is only natural.
There were only a few catches:
- The recipe had to be easy
- The recipe had to be quick
- The recipe could not contain nuts (as a primary ingredient that could not be omitted easily)
- The recipe could not contain peanut butter
- The recipe had to be flexible
- The recipe could not contain seeds of any kind
Outside of all those stipulations, I was going to be pretty flexible and willing to try anything. I was not opposed to buying new ingredients or the cost of it. I just wanted something quick, easy, and safe for myself and my children to eat. I did not think that was too much to ask.
I made the first batch today and I have to say that they were in fact very easy to make. They were even quick. I say that they were easy to make because there were very few ingredients. They were mostly what I had in the house (with the exception of the coconut that I had to buy and the ingredients I did not have enough of to make up a batch). I did not even make the effort to prep the kitchen for baking, I left it as it was. It was that easy that I did not need a lot of space to do it.
Lance was the first one home from school so he got the first taste. He is also my most verbal about whether or not he likes something. He just is. He will tell you just how he feels about something and why. He is not shy about it. He will tell you if it tastes like dirty socks if it tastes like dirty socks.
I will confess to trying one while I was on the phone with my friend, Devon Lee, before I went to go pick him up from school and I was mentioning to her how I had made them. I had noticed then how they were still chewing after baking them. I cut them right before leaving and well, all self-control went out the door. I ate another one. I grabbed two more as I walked out the door to get in the car. They were mighty delicious!!!
Lance thought they were good too. He gave a thumbs up without even removing the granola bar from his mouth. When he did manage to remove the tasty morsel from his mouth, his response was, “this is really good.” He then proceeded to shove another bite in his mouth. These were definitely Lance approved!
The one thing that I cannot deny is that they look good. That is what really made me happy. They looks good good. They did smell good, but they looked so good. They looked like real granola bars – better actually.
I followed the directions for the recipe as stated. I doubled the recipe so I could put in a jelly roll pan as indicated in the recipe notes.
I did forget about my butter for a little while. I was in the middle of something – a killer headache aside. My butter was really soft when I came back to it. Softer than I would normally make cookies with. The recipe called for softened butter, not melted butter. I think that helped.
The only other difference I had in the recipe is that I had fresh bag of coconut. It was what I could find at Walmart when I was there. It had long stringy pieces of coconut and I hesitated for a minute and then decided that the pieces were too long. I felt that my children would reject the coconut. I put the coconut in my Braun Handi-chopper and chopped it up much finer. It was little tiny pieces of coconut when I put it in the mixing bowl. I was much happier about this.
I like the texture of these. They were soft and chewy and had a nice flavor. There is just enough coconut to give it texture and flavor but not enough to turn someone off unless they have super coconut tasting skills. My children did not seem to mind it at all. There was just enough miniature chocolate chips to enjoy them but not so many that they were dripping in chocolate.
Kyle tried them when he got home from school. He was a little more cautious about being the test victim as he has learned that there is often things hidden in food that he may not like. However, I have to say by the look on his face that his taste buds were quite pleased.
I snagged his thumbs up and sly smile too! They were Kyle approved as well. He said they were “really good” as well. He proceeded to get himself a cup of milk to dunk his in. “You should try these with milk.”
I am just pleased that the two children that tried them this afternoon, both of them loved them. Score one for the yummy granola bars.
So where is the recipe????