Going Granola

So pretty much the world’s greatest gift for couples with a brand new babe who’s taken over their lives is food. The incredible Jen is thus the queen of gift giving, as we were home from the hospital for less than 24 hours when she arrived with bags – we’re talking five reusable grocery store bags, and those babies are not small! – of snacks and meals for the very, very grateful new parents. We’ve been dining and nibbling on the goodies ever since, and now that I’ve sampled all of it, I have to confirm that my favourite of all the deliverables was her homemade granola bars. So nutritious, so filling, and so yummy! Of course, given the tastiness factor, I had to ask for the recipe, knowing full well I likely wouldn’t be able to make it any time soon.

The babe hits his three week birthday tomorrow, and I’ve done no baking in the first weeks of his life – between feeding the voracious little hunger machine, doing endless laundry, and figuring out which cries mean what, it’s been a hectic time! (Though I must be clear – I’m not doing this on my own by any means. My super amazing husband is every bit as engrossed by this process as I am and I couldn’t ask for a better partner in this wee venture!) In any case, other than a few batches of holiday-coloured rice krispie squares (don’t mock!), there have been no treats crafted by these hands in some time. Thus, when the babe crashed for his morning nap today, I suspected it was time to hop back on the bandwagon and make these yummy granola treats my first foray back into deliciousness!

Jen But Never Jenn’s Homemade Granola Bars

• 2.5C rolled oats (edit: the second time I made this, I used the Quaker large flake variety – perfect!)
• 1/2C brown sugar
• 1/3C flax seeds (she recommends ground ones, but I didn’t have any in the house – edit: 15 seconds in the blender is perfect!)
• 1t cinnamon
• 1/2C white flour
• 1/2C whole wheat flour
• 3/4t sea salt
• 1C raisins (can also make part of this dried cranberries or other chopped dried fruit – edit: remember to soak these in hot water for five minutes as well to plump them up)
• 1/4C pumpkin seeds (she uses sunflower seeds, but I again didn’t have any in the house – she says hemp seeds are also good)
• 1/4C unsweetened coconut
• 1/2C chopped raw almonds (I used a combination of almonds, cashews, and walnuts – edit: Jen says to soak ‘em first for supreme healthiness)
• 1/3C semi-sweet chocolate chips (Jen uses the organic ones as they’re smaller, but again – I didn’t have any in the house so I used regular this time)
• 1/2C honey
• 1 egg, beaten (see my replacement note below)
• 1/2C sunflower oil (Jen says you can substitute applesauce for this if you want something healthier with more fibre, or you can go with canola oil or even peanut oil for a peanut buttery flavour)
• 2t vanilla extract

I just wrote out the entire baking instruction and, since I’d been running around taking care of the babes for a while, I’d inadvertently been logged out and they disappeared! In any case… preheat the oven to 350F and butter up a 9×13″ pan.

Mix together everything from oats to salt (I just realized I’d inadvertently dropped the salt, but it made no difference in the taste, so whatevs), then toss in the tasty stuff from raisins to chocolate chips. Make a little well in the middle of the dry ingredients and pour in the wet stuff. I realized, however, at the final moment that my eggs expired on December 21. Oopsie. I substituted 2T arrowroot powder and a little extra honey and it was just fine.

At this point, the granola goes into the buttered pan and gets pressed down maniacally with a buttered spatula, making it as firm as humanly possible so it bakes solidly. Toss it in the oven for 25-30 minutes, and keep an eye on it during the last minutes to ensure the edges don’t get too dark, which implies the bars are going to be dry. The tiny one began his demands for food during the baking stage, however, so the husband was in charge of taking the bars out. Jen had warned me to cut them after they were out for five minutes as they could otherwise become too hard to cut, but even half an hour later, they were still okay, but I wouldn’t have left them much longer!

Going granola for 2010? Yum!