Homemade Granola Bars

Preheat oven to 350° and line a 9×9 baking ban with a piece of parchment paper making sure the ends go all the way up the walls of the pan, then coat the pan with non- stick cooking spray. This will help easily remove the bars from the pan once they are cooled.

Mix together all dry ingredients in a large bowl, including the dried fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl combine the peanut butter, vanilla, melted butter, honey or maple syrup, 2 tablespoons of corn syrup and water then whisk until well incorporated. Toss the wet ingredients in with the dry and combine until the ingredients are well coated and the mixture is nice and crumbly. Spread mixture into prepared pan and press firmly. I cover mine with a piece of plastic wrap first so as to keep the mixture in the pan and not all over my hands.

Pop the pan in the preheated oven and bake for 35 – 40 minutes until the edges are nice and brown. Don’t be afraid to get a little color on these, it’s a sign that your nuts are getting nice and toasty…just make sure you don’t go too far and burn them. I find 40 minutes works perfect for my oven. The middle will seem a little under done when you take them out but don’t worry, they will firm up as they cool.

Now this is the hard part because they smell so good . . . let the bars cool in their pan on a cooling rack completely. This means at least 2 hours. However after about 30 minutes you can grab the edges of your parchment and lift the bars out of the pan to continue cooling. You want your bars to be completely room temperature before cutting into them, in fact I even pop mine into the fridge for a good 30 minutes just to be sure. Once cooled, using a serrated knife, cut into desired sized pieces. If they start to crumble then they’re not completely cool – so pop ‘em back in the fridge and try again in 15 minutes.

To store wrap bars individually in wax paper or stack in an airtight container. For us Florida folks I recommend keeping them in the fridge because of all the humidity but those in cooler climates should be fine with leaving them out.