Chewy Granola Bars
These homemade chewy granola bars are easily customized to taste with your own favorite fruits and nuts. Step-by-step photos illustrating how to make these granola bars are available at Bakers' Banter, our King Arthur blog.
- 1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
- 1 cup + 2 tablespoons Sticky Bun Sugar
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar, optional (see "tips" at right)
- 1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup quick oats, processed till finely ground in a food processor or blender)
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon, optional
- 2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts*
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup melted butter or vegetable oil
- 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup
- 1 tablespoon water
- *We like 1/2 cup each dried cranberries, chopped dried apricots, chopped pecans, sunflower seeds, and coconut. Walnuts, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, dried cherries or apples, or even chocolate chips would all be delicious as well.
Directions
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Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" pan. |
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2) In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, syrup or honey, and water. |
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5) Bake the bars for 25 to 30 minutes, until they're golden brown around the edges. |
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6) Remove them from the oven, loosen the edges, and cool for 5 minutes. |
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8) Wrap bars individually to store; or place in a single layer on a plate, and cover with plastic; or store in layers with parchment in between. In humid weather, it's best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well. |
Recipe summary
- Hands-on time:
- 10 mins.
- Baking time:
- 25 mins.
- Total time:
- 35 mins.
- Yield:
- about one dozen 2" x 4 1/2" bars.
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- Recipe comments (38) »
Tips from our bakers
- Sticky bun sugar gives these bars a lovely crisp edge with a chewy center. If you don't want to use sticky bun sugar, you can make bars that come close to that texture by substituting 3/4 cup granulated sugar + 2 tablespoons light corn syrup + 2 tablespoons melted butter for the sticky bun sugar. And yes, you'll still add the additional granulated sugar (if you want to; see note below) and butter as called for in the recipe.
- If you add lots of sweet dried fruit to these bars, you'll probably want to leave out the 1/3 cup granulated sugar, as the fruit will help sweeten the bars. If you use only nuts, seeds, and/or tart/tangy dried fruit, you may want to add the sugar; it's up to you.
- This recipe is a great example of why a scale is such a key baking tool. Simply line up your favorite dried fruits and nuts, set your mixing bowl on the scale, and add a bit of this (or a lot of that) till the scale reads 10 to 15 ounces.
- Did you know that supermarket ("fake") maple syrup isn't nearly as sweet as 100% ("real") maple syrup? If you want to use maple-flavored cane syrup in this recipe, you may want to increase the amount of granulated sugar by 2 tablespoons.
- For granola bars with a hint of peanut flavor, add 1/3 cup peanut butter to the dry ingredients along with the other wet ingredients.
Reviews
01/29/2010
I made this with a rolled 6-grain cereal (Red Wheat,Rye, Oats, Barley,Sunflower Seeds,White Wheat) and almond extract instead of vanilla...they were unbelievable...even my 2 year old loved them!
01/14/2010
I made half a batch with the corn syrup/sugar/Smart Balance in lieu of sticky bun sugar. I did not use the additional 1/3 cup of cane sugar. I used Smart Balance in lieu of butter. My add-ins were Rice Krispies and one tablespoon of mini semisweet chocolate chips. My children are not into dried fruits and nuts. I lined an 8" square pan with parchment paper. The bars were very soft out of the oven. Two hours later they had firmed up to the point where the outside is pretty hard, but the interior is chewy. My husband and I like them. Our 10 year old said they are good, and he would like them more with a glass of milk. Our 7 year old did not care for them, but he took a few nibbles anyway. The bars have a wonderful bottom layer gossamer-thin of sugar-crystallized oat flour. The rolled and ground oats/sugar combination is the best part. I would like to experiment with other flavors (like tamarind or something sweetish sour like that). I would also try different grains as add-ins, such as buckwheat kernels. Thanks for your focus on whole grains. I appreciate the concerns of bakers who need to accommodate food allergies and metabolic conditions like diabetes. I learn a lot from the comments of other bakers. I really like the collaborative nature of this website, as well as the Bakers Banter blog.
01/13/2010
Made these bars last night and was realy liked them. I added 1/2 cup each of chopped apricots, chopped dates, white raisins, and chopped walnuts. I made the suggested substitution for the sticky bun sugar, but I was concerned that the combination of white sugar, melted butter and light corn syrup wouldn't mix in the other ingredients. By putting everything in a stand mixer with the paddle, it all came together well. I used Grade B maple syrup for the liquid sweetner with the vanilla and melted butter. I lined my 9 x 13 brownie pan with non-stick aluminum foil and you don't have to grease that. After baking for 25 min. I left them cool for about 5 min. and then used a bench scraper to cut them. After 10-15 min. I lifted them with the foil from the pan to the cooling rack. When completely cooled, I used the bench scraper again to completely separate the bars.
01/11/2010
These are terrific. I used equal amounts of KAF fruitcake fruit, unsalted sunflower seeds and walnuts to equal 15 ounces, did not add the additional sugar and lined my pan with parchment hanging over the edge so I could lift the whole piece out before cutting. They are perfect. I won't change a thing.
01/05/2010
Ed O, Louisville,KY changed some of your ingredients, reg. oats instead of quick, brown sugar 1cup & 1cup honey,added 1/2 cup oats, 3full cups of chopped (4 fruit & 5 nuts), used 4 tablespoons of water, baked full 30min. chewy: chewy: chewy:*yummy: yummy Yummy.
01/03/2010
These granola bars were part of my holiday cookie box sent to friends and family. I used organic apricots and cherries, in addition to toasted (pre-bake) walnuts and almonds. I used a 1/3 cup of almond butter in my recipe. I had people calling me to say they never knew granola bars tasted so good.
10/04/2009
Just made these using the honey and butter, adding peanut butter, cranberries, coconut, apricots, walnuts, omitting the additional sugar. I did use the sticky bun sugar. I lined the pan with parchment so had no trouble getting them out. They were soft to cut, but have held together nicely since they cooled. Absolutely will be making these again!
09/29/2009
I tried this for the first time last night without the sticky bun sugar. I did not add the extra sugar and I used honey. I used 6.5 oz mangoes and 4 oz coconut and butter rather than oil. I used parchment in my pan. After the 5 minutes, I used a bench knife to score the bars. I waited another 5-10 minutes and removed the parchment from the pan. As they cooled a bit, I went back with the bench knife (2-3 times) and gradually separated them so they would maintain a bar shape. I wrapped them individually in aluminum foil when cool. This worked very well and they are holding their shape nicely today. My husband and I like them, but the kids did not - they said they were too sweet (although it could be because they were warm when they tried them). Could I reduce the honey or butter slightly (they seemed to collect on the bottom, making it really sweet)
or increase the oats?
With all the dried fruit you used you may want to reduce the amount of honey but maybe just by 1 tablespoon. This may be a trial and error on your part till you reach the correct balance for your taste. Try halving the butter and see if you like the results. Joan@bakershotline
09/08/2009
I've made these many times, never the same way twice, but always a hit. The faves so far are dried blueberry/sliced almond/cinnamon and almond butter/mini choc. chip. These are also easy combos, since there is no need to chop any dried fruit (although dried apricots are delicious in here, too!). I have made them with agave syrup and brown rice syrup in place of honey with great results. I always add some ground flax meal and oat bran to up the nutrition. I would classify them as more of a treat than a health food, but they are still better for you than your typical cookie!
08/31/2009
Sugar, much? This should be a dessert.
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