Granola Bar Success!

It's really cooling down here and Fall is definitely creeping its way around the seasonal corner. One fun thing about having to move for six months is that you can only bring so many clothes with you, so I've been shopping to supplement what I brought and so I don't freeze in my summer togs. Speaking of shopping, I picked up a few new pans: a muffin tin, a baking pan and a springform cake pan. I also bought some spoons, a spatula and a measuring cup. Now that it's cooler I don't feel so overwhelmed when I use the oven in the apartment here.

A little over a week ago I made Black Bottom Cupcakes. I was invited to a friend's house and I wanted to bring cupcakes. Unfortunately I don't have a mixer here, so the frosting would be a bit of a problem. Fortunately I remembered that Erin posted a recipe on Things Worth Making a little while back. Black Bottom Cupcakes are not frosted, so they were perfect. And they were delicious.

My other baking project was to make Granola Bars. One thing I've found is that is really hard to find store-bought granola bars that aren't too sweet and that taste good. At home I ate Kashi granola bars. In Geneva, I've only tried one type and they were WAY too sweet for me. Attempts to bake them in the past have proved futile, but I was determined. I have now baked them twice using this recipe from Smitten Kitchen as a guide. The first attempt wasn't much of a success. Rather than bars I had clumps of granola. Still, they were tasty clumps and made a good snack at work.

After finishing the first batch I tried making them again. I did a bit of research and figured that what my bars needed was a little more honey and some butter. I do not live under the illusion that granola bars are necessarily healthy so adding the butter caused me no pain. My main concerns were that they tasted good, contained some protein and fibre and that they didn't fall apart. I'm pleased to say that my second attempt was successful! I'm dismayed to say that I didn't really measure anything and eye-balled the ingredients the second time around. However, I will attempt to tell you what I did and how I did it.

First, combine a mixture of oats, shredded unsweetened coconut, sliced almonds, a bit of bran, some cinnamon and a bit of salt in a baking pan. I think I probably used about 2 cups of oats, 1 cup each of coconut and almonds, half a cup wheat bran, a teaspoon or two of cinnamon and a few cranks of salt from a salt grinder. You can use pretty much anything you'd like in terms of seeds and cereals. Basically, you want to have enough ingredients to cover the bottom of the pan at a depth of about 3 cm (1-inch). Put this in a 300F (175C) oven for about 15 minutes, periodically stirring the ingredients around so they get nice and toasty, but not burnt!

While that is in the oven put about 3/4 cup honey in a pan with about 1/4 cup butter and heat on low until melted. Stir to combine. In the meantime, chop up some dried fruit of your liking. Probably about 1 to 2 cups depending on how fruity you want your bars.

Once the stuff in the pan is toasted remove it from the oven and turn the oven down to about 325F (150C). Put the toasted oat mixture into a bowl with the chopped up fruit. Pour in the melted butter and honey mixture and combine using a wooden spoon. You want the honey mixture to coat everything, but it shouldn't be too soggy or too dry. If it's too dry you'll need to add more honey. If it's too moist try tossing in some extra oats. Once it's mixed together really well, spoon the ingredients back into the baking pan (you may want to line or grease it before you do this). Push all the ingredients down evenly in the pan using a spatula. Put the pan back into the oven and bake for about 2o minutes.

Once the bars are baked you'll need to let them cool for a little while before cutting them. I waited about an hour. After they're cut put them in a container and, voila!, you've got about 14 granola bars to munch on whenever the mood strikes.