These were so tasty--a lot better than one's you can buy! Definitely a must try because you can alter these to your liking.
Wheat germ--I found this in the cereal isle, by the oatmeal & hot cereal.
Granola Bars
2 C. old-fashioned oats (I just used quick oats)
1 C. sliced almonds
1 C. shredded coconut (I like to use the unsweetened coconut)
1/2 C. toasted wheat germ
2/3 C. honey
3 Tbsp. butter
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional--you could do any flavor of chips or any dried fruit. Our favorite is raisins & it's good if you add in a little cinnamon too. I don't ever measure the raisins, I just dump some in)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Toss the oats, almonds, & coconut on a jelly roll pan & cook for 10-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Transfer oat mix to a large bowl & add the wheat germ. In a saucepan, over medium heat, bring the butter, honey, vanilla, & salt to a boil for 1 minute. Pour over oat mixture & mix well. Pour 1/2 of the granola into a greased & parchment-lined 8x8 pan. Sprinkle on chocolate chips or dried fruit & then cover with the other 1/2 of the granola. Reduce the oven to 300 degrees and bake for 10-30 minutes or until lightly browned (do more or less time depending on if you want the bars to be chewy or crunchy--I did mine for about 20 minutes & they were on the crunchy side. We like ours soft, so I usually do mine for about 10 minutes). Allow bars to cool for at least 3 hours (I would recommend cutting them into squares before they cool all the way--otherwise they're hard to cut). Store in an airtight container.
*FYI--I figured out the total amount of calories for this recipe & it is 3,060 calories (if you use chocolate chips). If you cut it into 20 squares then that's 153 calories per square.
recipe from Rachel
