We love granola bars, my boys eat one daily as an afternoon snack. The ones we like the best are Nature's Best Pumpkin Flax, it has tons of protein and fiber and so good for them. We also have loose granola with our cereal, yogurt parfaits, oatmeal and also to top ice cream. One thing I've never done is make my own granola or granola bars. We were going camping so I thought this would be a protein packed snack for our adventure.

As I was looking through the Usborne Healthy Cookbook I noticed a fantastic recipe for granola. This granola was made with nuts, seeds, dried fruit and oats. I had a ton of loose granola but no granola bars in my house so I decided to make granola bars using the Usborne granola recipe as a guide.

       








Finntastic Granola Bars

2 cups quick rolled oats
1/2  cup brown sugar
1/2 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  1  cup dried apricots
1/2 sunflower seeds

1/2 raw almonds  ground in a coffee grinder

2 eggs 

1/2 cup of dried bananas  ground in coffee grinder

1/2 carbo chips
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup of sunflower oil
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup of flaxseed meal


Preheat the oven to 350°F. line 9x11 pan in one direction with parchment paper or foil, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper or foil and the exposed pan.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, oil, and honey. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost under baked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.

Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack, then lift out of foil

Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. [Updating to note, as many had crumbling issues:] If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.

Here are other suggestions of things to use in your granola bars:  Dried cranberries, apricots, pecans,coconut, walnuts, sesame seeds,  wheat germ, 1 cup dried cherries,  dried unsweetened coconut flakes. 


Now remember O'Boy! Organic is doing a giveaway of the Usborne Healthy Cookbook, so if you like this recipe or the smoothie recipe I posted a few days ago then enter to win this fabulous book that not only is great for kids but for the whole family.

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