Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

There's something about Quaker chewy granola bars that can get addicting but buying those every week can really start to add up. I tried to make some on my own before but it was too crumbly and I was disappointed so I gave into buying Quaker bars again. Now, however, I think I've found a recipe that will keep my wallet happy. It's not quite as chewy as the Quaker bars but it's still pretty darn good. If I baked it for less time, I think it'll be chewier and closer to what I'm looking for.



It sure makes a lot of bars so it's lasted me several weeks now. It stays together pretty well and is a good balance of crunchy and chewy. I'm not a fan of granola bars that are so crunchy that my jaw ends up hurting by the end so this recipe makes even my jaws happy. Next time, I might add in some almonds for more protein and leave out the coconut as I don't know how much flavor that really added to the bars. Sorry, Quaker.



Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
From This Week For Dinner

4 cups rolled old-fashioned oats
1 cup brown crisped rice cereal
1/3 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
1/3 cup brown sugar
1 cup mini chocolate chips
1/2 tsp kosher salt
2/3 cup canola or coconut oil
2/3 cup honey
1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Preheat oven to 325F.

Combine oats, crisped rice, flour, coconut, brown sugar, chocolate chips and salt. Mix well.

Combine oil, honey and vanilla. Whisk well. Add to dry ingredients and mix well (stir a lot!).

Line a 9x13 baking pan with parchment paper and pour granola bar mixture onto the lined baking pan. Press mixture out into a large, uniform rectangle. Bake for about 30 minutes until golden and dry to touch (watch out, it’s hot!).

Cool on the baking sheet for 10-20 minutes until completely cooled. Slide granola bar along with parchment paper onto a large cutting board. Cut into bars using a long serrated knife.

Makes 24 bars (8 rows, 3 columns). Bars will keep for several weeks in an airtight container.

Thick Chewy Granola Bars

Today is the birthday of my (former) housemate who lives in California. I decided to surprise her. Unfortunately, not by hopping on a plane and arriving at her doorstep. I took a less expensive route and surprised her with a package at her doorstep.



I know that she would love sweets, but first of all, I don't think sending a cake through the mail is really ideal, and second, I didn't want her to call me evil again! (Joke. I'm really not evil. So maybe I just aid and abet others in eating way too many sweets by baking too much.) This girl has been horseback riding ever since she was little and now that she's home, she gets to spend a lot of time with her horses. She needs something to keep her energy up. Granola bars are the perfect grab-and-go snacks, so I sent her some homemade bars along with a cute card. I sent them on Tuesday and they got there July 1! What with July 4 tomorrow, I didn't want anything to happen so that she received them late. Better early than late.



There are so many granola bar recipes to choose from. They all sound really good! And really, it's a matter of your own tastes and you never end up making the same bars twice. Smitten Kitchen has never let me down, so I stuck with her recipe. While this is a really good granola bar, it's not the kind I like. I like the crispy and crunchy ones that require me to chew so much that I can feel it in my jaw afterwards. But the balance of flavors in these bars is delicious. I used the least amount of sugar required and it was the perfect level of sweetness. If you don't like chewing until your jaw hurts, go for these. I think what gives these a kind-to-your-jaw chewiness is using quick oats and oat flour.



Impatience always gets the best of me. I should have waited a bit longer to cut into these, but I didn't and they ended up crumbling a bit. I was at least still able to wrap each bar individually. I got 9 bars out of this recipe. Twelve seemed a little too small and 8 seemed like too much, so 9 was just right!



Thick Chewy Granola Bars
From Smitten Kitchen

- 1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
- 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (more for a sweetness akin to most purchased bars; less for a mildly sweet bar)
- 1/3 cup oat flour (or 1/3 cup oats, finely ground in a food processor or blender)
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 2 to 3 cups dried fruits and nuts (total of 10 to 15 ounces)
- 1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (I used almond butter) (optional)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (optional)
- 6 tbsp melted butter
- 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup [I used maple syrup]
- 2 tbsp light corn syrup (see Note above)
- 1 tbsp water

1. Line an 8x8 pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides to create "handles." Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.
2. Stir together quick oats, sugar, oat flour, salt, cinnamon, and the dried fruits and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter, maple syrup, corn syrup, and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)
3. Bake the bars at 350F for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.
4. Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up.)
5. Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. [Updating to note, as many had crumbling issues:] If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.

Oat Burgers

Hey! Four posts in four days! This is a great start in the new year, eh?

I've been cooking as much as I can the last two days because I start student-teaching tomorrow. Basically, I'm back in high school. For the next 12 weeks, I will be at the local high school with a math teacher, whom I am so glad to be working with. He is really passionate about getting his students to understand the material. He is also really enthusiastic about working with me. I worked with him before for my Practicum hours and instead of leaving me in the back of the classroom just to observe (which other Practicum teachers have done), he included me in the classes. I've heard that he has had a very high success rate with his students, so I can't wait.

I'm not sure how much time I'll have to cook during the week while I'm student-teaching so these frequent posts may be short-lived, but I'm keeping my fingers crossed. In order to prepare for my lunch for this week, I made these Oat Burgers. Easy to make and filling so that no students can hear my stomach growling during class. You can probably mix the flavors up a bit too. Try other veggies instead of just mushrooms alone or different spices and herbs.



I've always had difficulty flipping these things, but today, it wasn't too bad. What I did was first spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray. I poured the mixture into the prepared pan and then put it in the oven to bake the first time. To flip, I sprayed a piece of parchment paper (long enough to cover the baking pan) with cooking spray, put the sprayed side down over the baking pan, flipped it. Then just put the paper into the baking pan with the burgers and bake again.



Oat Burgers
From Fat Free

- 4 cups water
- 1/2 cup soy sauce
- 1/2 cup nutritional yeast
- 1 large onion, diced
- 4 oz mushrooms, diced
- 1/2 tbsp garlic powder
- 1 tbsp dried oregano
- 1 tbsp basil
- 4 1/2 cups oatmeal

1. Bring all ingredients except oatmeal to a boil.
2. Lower heat and add oatmeal. Cook until all water is absorbed.
3. Add mixture to a greased baking pan and bake at 350F for 25 minutes.
4. Cut mixture into 8 squares and flip. Bake for 20 more minutes.