Wholesome, high-energy snack meals is the proper pick-me-up throughout the work or college day. It supplies a dietary increase of power, which improves focus and stamina. Whereas nailing the vitamin could also be simpler to perform when getting ready a sit-down meal, it’s usually troublesome to attain in a snack when you’re grabbing meals on the go. What are you able to eat that’s moveable, scrumptious and wholesome? Look no additional than these do-it-yourself granola bars. Snacking by no means felt, or tasted, so good.
The fantastic thing about do-it-yourself granola bars is you could choose and select your elements, omitting extra sugars, fats and components with out sacrificing taste. Whereas these bars will not be fully sin-free, they’re full of nutrient-rich oats, almonds and dried fruit. Every bar supplies a welcome dose of protein, fiber, nutritional vitamins and minerals, which ought to justify making a batch for munching.
This recipe is impressed by a tried-and-true granola bar recipe from Ina Garten. I’ve stored her ratios of dried to moist elements almost the identical to make sure the bars will stick collectively, which could be a problem with granola bars. This recipe leans into maple and cinnamon, which I really like in granola. For a gluten-free model, use gluten-free oats.
Do-it-yourself Granola Bars
Makes roughly 18 to 24 small bars
INGREDIENTS
2¼ cups old style oats
3/4 cup chopped uncooked almonds
3/4 cup unsweetened grated coconut
1/4 cup almond meal
1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup (packed) gentle brown sugar
1/3 cup maple syrup
1½ teaspoons vanilla extract
1 teaspoon floor cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
1½ cups blended dried fruit, reminiscent of chopped apricots, cranberries and cherries
DIRECTIONS
Warmth the oven to 350 levels. Butter an 8-by-11-inch baking pan and line with parchment.
Mix the oats, almonds and coconut in a bowl. Unfold on a rimmed baking sheet and bake till aromatic and evenly toasted, 8 to 10 minutes. Take away from the oven and switch to a big bowl. Stir within the almond meal.
Scale back the oven temperature to 300 levels.
Soften the butter in a small saucepan over medium warmth. Whisk within the sugar and syrup, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Take away from the warmth and stir within the vanilla, cinnamon and salt. Pour over the oats, stirring to completely mix. Stir within the dried fruit.
Dump the batter within the ready pan and unfold to evenly distribute, gently urgent down.
Switch to the oven and bake till golden brown, 30 to 35 minutes. Take away and funky utterly within the pan till agency, at the very least 2 hours. Reduce into squares or rectangles. Retailer at room temperature in an hermetic container.
Lynda Balslev is a San Francisco Bay Space cookbook creator, meals and journey author and recipe developer.
