Granola Bars

After weeks of making granola from several recipes found on line I finally gave up and decided to try granola bars.  I made this recipe not too sweet and not to decadent so it can be eaten at breakfast. It is also very pliable.  It can be made gluten free, vegan, and you can add other ingredients pretty easily.      

      I used butter (which could be subbed with earth balance or margarine), sugar, honey and molasses (or just molasses),  vanilla (optional), gluten free quick cooking oats,  ground pecans,  unsweetened coconut, and chocolate chips or some sort of fruit.

Mixing all the ingredients

 The first step is to melt the butter, sugar, honey and molasses together. Then add the vanilla, oats, nuts,coconut, and chocolate chips to the mix. Next you put the mixture into a prepared pan, pressing evenly, and bake for 22 minutes, then wait five minutes to cut into the bars and then another hour to cool and break apart completely. After that they can be stored on the counter in an air tight container. They don't last even a week around these parts!

Pressed into pan

Finished baking

Cut into bars

Here is the recipe !

1/2 cup of butter

1/2 cup of sugar

2 tablespoons of honey

2 tablespoons of molasses

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla extract

2 cups of quick cooking oats

1/3 cup of ground nuts

2 cups of unsweetened coconut

1/3 cup of chocolate chips

Preheat the oven to 350 º and prepare an 11 x 8 pan by buttering and then layering with parchment paper, once lengthwise and once crosswise.

      Then melt the butter with the sugar, honey, and molasses. Add the vanilla and stir. Add the rest of the ingredients. It will look dry but will be some what sticky. Then pour the ingredients into the prepared pan and press evenly. Sprinkle with extra coconut and chocolate chips and put in the oven for 22 minutes. Take the granola bars out and then let sit for five minutes. After five minutes cut into 14 bars. Then let sit for about an hour before removing the bars from the pan.