Granola Bars v2

I posted this granola bar photo elsewhere and a few people asked for the recipe. Here’s my version, based heavily on the one from blessthismessplease.com

The original recipe called for using butter, and I tried to replace it with peanut butter to make them vegan for my vegan crew. (I left the chocolate chips out, of course.) They worked, so I stuck with using peanut butter instead of butter, and added the chocolate chip back in (making the “non-vegan” version.)

Sp if I make them for Dana and myself the chocolate chips go in and they are not vegan. If I make them for my daughter, I skip the chocolate chips, and they are still quite delicious. Dana says the chocolate chips add just the right about of sweet to the saltiness you get from the peanut butter, peanuts, and salt. So leave them out for vegans, or add them in for non-vegans.

Ingredients

• 2 1/2 cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup nuts, roughly chopped (peanuts, cashews, pistachios, whatever)
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 2 Tbsp molasses
• 1 teaspoon real vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup shredded coconut
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Line a 9-inch square baking dish with parchment and lightly spray with cooking spray.
2. Place the oats and chopped nuts on a rimmed baking sheet and bake for 8-10 minutes until lightly toasted.
3. Add the honey, peanut butter, molasses, and brown sugar to a saucepan. Cook over low to medium heat until the peanut butter melts and the sugar dissolves. Stir constantly. Let the mixture bubble while stirring for 1 minute and then remove from the heat.
4. Place the nuts and oats in a large bowl. (We’ll be adding in the liquid when it’s ready.)
5. Stir in the vanilla and salt to the liquid mixture. Pour this mixture over the oat and nut mixture and stir to combine with a rubber spatula. Add the shredded coconut (except for chocolate chips) and stir to combine. Stir it up good! Make sure none of the oats are dry.
6. If you are adding chocolate chips, wait about 15 minutes for the mixture to cool a bit before adding the chocolate and then stirring to combine. (Otherwise they get all melty!)
7. Place all of the mixture in the 9-inch square baking pan. Press it all down good! I use another piece of parchment paper to get it nice and pressed. The more compressed you can get it, the less chance they’ll fall apart after cooled.
8. Toss it in the fridge and wait at least two hours. Lift the bars from the pan using the edges of the parchment and place them on a cutting board. Cut ’em up!
9. Enjoy!

The original recipe calls for storing them in the fridge, I think because of the butter. I don’t know if these need to be stored chilled. I usually keep a few in my desk at work, but I tend to finish off a batch in about a week, so they aren’t around that long.