Granola Bars (22Oct-12)

I love granola bars, so do the kids :)
I never knew it was that easy to make them nor has it crossed my mind I could home-make some, till someone told me about it 2 years back :P

So there I went, googling for recipe and found a non-bake version which I made tweaks to. I could not get any granola at the supermart near my place but found muesli instead. Actually, I don't know whether to call these granola bars or muesli bars, since the former is usually coated with sugar and the latter is unsweetened. But since I am coating the muesli with honey, I shall stick to calling them granola bars ^^

My first batch didn't turn out too pretty, as I pressed down the choc chips a little too hard and they all melted and the bars look messy.
Tried another batch and it looked prettier =)

When I was taking pictures of the granola bars today, I realised the bars were a little too soft and didn't hold together very well when left too long in room temperature :( Is it due to the oven temperature in SG? They tasted just right when it's just out of the fridge.

 

But the kids love this texture, chewy and soft. I would prefer a slightly harder texture. I shall try baking them for 10-15mins the next time round. Hopefully it holds better?

 

 

While googling for granola bars, I was surprised that these so called health-snacks ain't as healthy as it is marketed. Those off-the-shelf granola bars, though it boast of high fibre content, usually has a pretty high sugar content too (and most uses corn syrup instead of honey).

 

By making these as on-the-go snacks for my kids, I will have the choice of what goes into the tum-tums of my children, and I can be assured it's definitely healthier than buying them off the shelf. 

 

I cut the bars into bitesize and wrapped them with brown greaseproof paper. Stick them down with washi paper tape.. looks really cute ^^

Anyway, this is still not THE recipe, but it's a start for those who wanna try some home-made granola bars. I will keep on trying and tweaking till I get the "right" granola bars ^^


Ingredients

• 56g unsalted butter
• 53g (1/4 cup) packed light brown sugar
• 85g (1/4 cup) honey
• 2 cups muesli (or plain granola)
• 1 cup rice cereal (Rice Krispies, etc.)
• Some semisweet chocolate chips to sprinkle on

 

Process

1. Line a 8x8 baking pan with parchment. Set aside.
2. Combine butter, honey and brown sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.
5. Spread the mixture into the prepared pans and press firmly with a clingwrap/spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the chocolate chips onto the top of the granola and gently press them down with the spatula.
6. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set; lift out of the pan and cut into bars.
7. Fridge it till bars hardened.

Note: Do NOT press the chips down too hard. I used Hershey's semisweet choc chips and they melt really easily if I just used a little more strength.