Comments on: thick, chewy granola bars

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 01:39:33 +0000

Deb-
I just wanted to let you know how much I love this recipe. I am a graduate student and am so busy that I am frequently gone for all 3 meals. I have been making these bars, individually wrapping them, and storing them in the freezer. They are so hearty and delicious I can bring one along with me for an easy homemade meal or snack. They are saving my life!

By: Meredith

Meredith — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 13:47:05 +0000

Thank you for this recipe! I’ve needed a good grab-and-go breakfast, and these (which I made with ground flaxseed, dried cherries, pecans, and a bit of orange peel) are amazing! YAY! Problem solved : )

By: Maggie

Maggie — Tue, 31 Jan 2012 16:25:24 +0000

My favorite combination so far is banana chips, chocolate (dark or semi sweet), and mixed nuts, all crushed a bit. I have reduced the butter by a tablespoon or two, both successfully – but when I only used 4 they were a little less chewy. With 6 tbsp the butter is just a little too prominent for me, but that’s entirely preference.

I only use 1/4-1/3 cup of sugar, less if I’m using a lot of sweet, dried fruit, more if the mix-ins aren’t particularly sweet. For me there is enough sweetness there with that small amount of sugar, and the honey and corn syrup.

Lastly, I wasn’t clear on whether the peanut butter should be mixed with the wet ingredients prior to adding, or just added at the same time. But I found that whisking it with all the wet ingredients helps distribute the flavor evenly, and is a little easier to mix.

By: Tricia

Tricia — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:23:25 +0000

I had only 1.5 cups of oatmeal, so I took some almonds and pecans and ground them as fine as my equipment would allow, and pretended that was oat flour. I used 1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/4 cup honey and 1 Tbsp maple syrup. I could have done without the syrup, but they are delicious anyway. Used chopped pecans, hazelnuts, dried cherries, black and golden raisins. Oh, so good!

By: Julie

Julie — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 19:43:58 +0000

My first batch is in the oven, your light rye is rising on the counter.

I made a bunch of substitutions; ground barley flour, about half and half barley flakes* to oats, jaggery instead of the white sugar which adds more molasses flavour to go along with the corn syrup I used, bumped up the cinnamon to 3/4tsp and this time around in the dried fruit nut/seed department: whole flax, sunflower seeds, sultana raisins, apricots and peanuts.

My kitchen is starting to smell good …

*If I had more barley flakes I would’ve used nothing but. I’m also tempted next time around to see what rye flakes would taste like … wonder if rye and dried persimmons would go together?

By: Jessica

Jessica — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 01:51:12 +0000

My two year old and I made these tonight and they are DIVINE! We used 6 TBSP coconut oil and used honey as our sweetener. We did add 1/4 sugar and the results were perfect. Prunes, dates, pepitas, sunflower seeds, coconut, wheat germ, and flax seed were the yummy treats we added. The chewy consistency (no signs of crumbles) has made these a new fave for everyone in our family.

By: Darchala

Darchala — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 18:07:11 +0000

I first tried these with the half cup of sugar (with various nuts and some dried cranberries) and even that much was obscenely sweet to my taste. The second time around, I just nixed it altogether in the hopes that the honey/maple syrup and some sweetened coconut would provide enough, and they did! Went with the peanut butter, one cup each of peanuts, coconut, and crisped rice (!), and a shameless amount of cinnamon. With those tweaks, this has become a sort of personal granola bar heaven, though probably not sweet enough for most people’s tastes.

I’m sticking with honey, too. Something magical happens when it caramelizes together with peanut butter on the edges, especially when it seeps into the crisped rice, and why do I have to be out of honey right now?

One really doesn’t need to grease parchment paper, though. It’s incredibly nonstick to begin with (or at least the kind I use is).

By: Erin

Erin — Mon, 09 Jan 2012 15:48:23 +0000

hi Deb- I made these yesterday with a raisin medley and walnuts- yum! Do you think I could substitute oat bran for the pulsed oats? Thanks!

By: Miriam

Miriam — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 06:13:58 +0000

I’m a busy college student. I rely on granola bars because they’re filling snacks that I can stuff in my backpack and eat whenever I need one. Fall of my sophomore year, I suddenly developed soy intolerance. When I discovered that I couldn’t eat any of the granola bars in the store, I went to the Internet for recipes, but most of them used ingredients like wheat germ that I don’t have easy access to. After a little while I found this one, and I love it. Much better than what I used to eat! I use cranberries, dates, and almonds or pecans, and I leave out almost all of the granulated sugar because the dried fruit is heavily sweetened. I also double the cinnamon, and use honey in place of corn syrup. I make a batch of these about once every week or two, and I always keep one on hand. Thank you for this excellent recipe!

By: Monica

Monica — Wed, 04 Jan 2012 19:31:58 +0000

These are the best granola bars I’ve ever made/eaten! I used chopped dates, raisins, craisins, dried cherries, pecans, walnuts and some wheat germ. I used 2/3 cup sugar and they were a bit sweet, so I’ll use less sugar next time I make them. I left these in the pan overnight to cool and had no crumbling issues when I cut them up the next morning. The recipe is the best one I’ve tried thus far, and I’ve tried a bunch of them. Thank you!!