Crunchy Granola Bars

  It has been almost a year since my last post. Shameful. I’ve been spending my time on Instagram lately and my username is tenniskat in case you want to follow.

Last night I made homemade granola bars for the first time. I’ve always wanted to try them but never have until now. This recipe is super simple and you'll likely have most of the ingredients already on hand. I found the recipe in The America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook. For the record, all of the ATK family cookbooks are fabulous. You won’t be disappointed and they would make a great addition to your cookbook collection.

Crunchy Granola Bars

(Don’t substitute quick-cooking or instant rolled oats as it will greatly affect the texture of the bars)

3/4 cup almonds, chopped coarse **

3 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 tsp salt

1/3 cup honey

1/2 cup packed light brown sugar

1 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp cinnamon

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees and adjust the rack to the middle. Line a 13 x 9 baking pan with a foil sling and spray it with vegetable oil spray.

2. Toast the almonds in a 12 inch skillet over medium heat until fragrant and golden brown, about 5-7 minutes. Transfer to a large mixing bowl. Add the oats and oil to the skillet and toast until golden and fragrant, about 4-6. Transfer oats to the mixing bowl with the almonds.

3. In a small saucepan, combine the brown sugar and honey and simmer gently over medium-low heat until the sugar is disolved, about five minutes. Remove from heat and add vanilla and cinnamon.

4 Quickly stir the hot honey mixture into the almond-oat mixture until fully combined. Transfer mixture to prepared baking dish and press firmly into the pan. Bake granola until golden, 20-25 minutes rotating the pan halfway.

5. Let the granola cool for 1o minutes then remove the foil sling from the baking pan. Cut it into 16 bars  and cool completely before storing in an airtight container. Place waxed paper between the layers in the storage container to prevent them from sticking to each other. The bars will last up to one week.

**I used roasted and lightly salted almonds that I purchased at Whole Foods so it saved me a step and I also cut back on the salt the recipe called for since they were already salted.

*** I added chocolate chips and golden raisins to the recipe for added texture and flavor. The chocolate chips melted but the bars still tasted very good.