Tinfoil Chef

Granola bars are supposed to be among the healthier snacks you can get but unless you stick with homemade granola bars then you’d be surprised at how much sugar and junk ingredients are in them. Not only that, but most of them are also loaded with high fructose corn syrup as a primary ingredient. How’s that supposed to be healthy? While you CAN find actual good granola bars that aren’t filled with sugar, corn syrup and junk, they can also get kinda expensive.

The answer is to take matters into you own hands and make your own. After all, if you want something done right … etc., and all that. Here’s a mixture that results in healthy, filling granola bars that can take care of hunger for several hours without having to eat anything disgusting to feel full.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Crush a cup of peanuts. The easiest way is to put them in a plastic bag and pound ‘em with a heavy mallet, or sauce pan, or my favorite, a cast iron skillet. *grin*

Then, mix the peanuts, 2 cups of oats, 3/4 cup of wheat germ, and 3/4 cup of sunflower seeds in a baking dish with sides. Put this in the oven to toast for 10-12 minutes. Be sure to stir the mixture every few minutes to keep it from burning.

While that’s in the oven get out a a 11 x 13 glass baking dish and line it with some waxed paper that’s been lightly sprayed with a nonstick cooking spray.

Put 2/3 cup of brown sugar, 1/2 cup of honey, 4 Tablespoons of butter, 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract, and 1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt into a saucepan and bring it to a simmer while stirring constantly.

At this point the grains and nuts should be toasted. Mix everything together in a large bowl. Mix everything very thoroughly. You want to make sure the liquid part coats everything. Once it’s well mixed, pour the granola mixture into the prepared baking dish.

Spread the mixture out with a wooden spoon or spatula and then fold the sides of the waxed paper over (or you can just add a second sheet on top) and press hard to compact the granola together so that it won’t crumble and fall apart when you cut it.

Refrigerate this for a couple hours until the granola is completely cool and “set”. Then open the waxed paper And carefully turn the granola onto a large cutting board. Peeling away the rest of the paper.

Cut it into individual bars by firmly pressing down with a large knife (don’t use a sawing motion).

To store them you can either put them in an airtight container with sheets of waxed paper between them to prevent sticking or you could wrap them individually in plastic wrap.

2 cups of oats
3/4 cup of wheat germ
3/4 cup of sunflower seeds
1 cup of crushed peanuts
2/3 cup of brown sugar
1/2 cup of honey
4 tablespoons of butter
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon of kosher salt
about 8 oz of dried fruit

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