Chewy Granola Bars... a thousand ways.

I posted this base recipe back in September. I just whipped up another batch to take to work this week. It’s a very forgiving, flexible recipe, so I thought I’d post some ideas on how to vary the ingredients to get your very favourite combination.

First choice: Cereal (4 ½ cups total)

Oatmeal is the base – keep at between 2 ½ cups and all 4 ½ cups

Other options: rice crispies, puffed wheat, Kashi Puffs, Cheerios, bran flakes... any non-sugar cereal

Second choice: Flour-ish stuff (1 cup total)

Whole wheat flour is the default choice. You could sub up to ½ cup with:

Ground flax seed, wheat bran, oat bran, wheat germ, protein powder etc.

Third choice: Fruit puree

I use banana, but any fruit will add some moisture and a bit of flavour.

Applesauce, pureed prunes, pureed peaches, mashed pears.

Fourth choice: Sweeteners

The honey is important for stickiness, but corn syrup would work. White or brown sugar doesn’t matter much. Could add a little molasses in place of some of the honey.

Fifth choice: Candy

The recipe calls for 1 cup of chocolate chips. I usually go with about ½ cup. Other options:

Dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, butterscotch chips, peanut butter chips, Reeses pieces, anything that works in cookies.

Sixth choice: Dried fruit

Raisins is the default, but of course you could try:

Dried cherries, apples, blueberries, mango, pineapple, etc.

Last choice: Nuts

Almonds, peanuts, walnuts... whatever you like, or none at all. I was out of nuts, so I subbed ¼ c peanut butter for ¼ c honey.

There you have it! A thousand combinations of deliciousness.