In my quest to add healthier stuff into my recipe book I have tried quite a few granola bar recipes. Sadly, I have had very little luck in making a granola bar that will actually stay in bar form. Most of the time they crumble back into the granola I started with in the first place, leaving a big mess. This can sometimes be solved by using a recipe that calls for a lot of corn syrup, but at that point I might as well just make cookies.
So I was ridiculously excited to find this recipe. I have tried it twice now with excellent results. As long as you really smoosh it into the pan before baking, your bars will hold their shape better than any bars I have yet seen. And they're tasty too!
I started with this recipe from Alli 'n Son. I stayed pretty close to her recipe, but adjusted it for a smaller pan and made a few changes. So for us the recipe morphed into this, which I baked in my 9x9 pan:
Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Dry Ingredients:
2 cups old fashioned oats
1/2 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup peanuts, crushed
1/4 cup crushed almonds (crushed pretty small, we don't like big chunks)
1/4 cup wheat germ
1/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tablespoons flax seeds
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
Wet Ingredients:
1 cup creamy peanut butter
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup agave nectar
1/8 cup canola oil
1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Preheat the oven to 350ยบ. Spray a 9x9 pan with cooking or baking spray. In a large bowl combine the dry ingredients. In a small bowl, stir together the wet ingredients (heat them up in the microwave for a few seconds if you are having trouble). Then add the wet to the dry and mix well. Press very firmly into prepared pan. (Really smoosh it in there, this is what helps keep them from crumbling). Bake for 15 minutes or until starting to brown around the edges.
