Homemade Granola Bars!

As promised I am back today.  I haven't blogged in such a long time, I am so out of practiced!  I am getting over the flu and sinus infection, so yesterday I was feeling pretty much back to normal, and decided to spend most of the day in the kitchen.  How therapeutic that was!  I made an awesome dinner, and baked these awesome Homemade Granola Bars! 

Homemade Granola Bars!
 

I got the recipe from my favorite blogger and Food Network Celebrity, Pioneer Woman.  She made these bars on her show over the weekend.  I have always wanted to make Homemade Granola Bars, but I just needed a really good recipe, and sure enough Ree's recipe is a winner!  I changed the recipe just a bit for my own liking, I can never follow a recipe to the tee it's just me. There is a lot of sugar in this recipe, so next time, I may come up with a recipe with less sugar, it's the way I do things in the kitchen.

Here's the full sugar recipe, they are really delicious and my family loves them!

Homemade Granola Bars!

6 cups old fashioned Oats
1/4 cup canola oil
6 TBS butter melted
1 tsp salt

Combine the Oats, oil, salt and butter in a big bowl and toss.  Preheat the oven to 325 and put the mixture onto TWO lightly oiled cookie sheets, put them in the oven and toast for 20 minutes until lightly brown, checking and shaking the pans so nothing burns. 

Meanwhile make up the goodness (or should I say glue) that holds the bars together.

Combine in a medium saucepan:
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup Molasses
1/2 cup honey
3 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup apple juice (here is where I changed the recipe, I didn't have apple juice, so I added WATER instead).
Bring this all to a simmer.

Meanwhile, in a large bowl add the Toasted Oats and the following:

1 1/2 cups Rice cereal
1 cup chopped almonds
1/2 cup salted peanuts (this is where I changed the recipe too, PW used pecans, but I thought the salted peanuts would add a nice little salted flavor to the sweetness, and it did!)
1 cup flaked coconut (another changed)
1 cup Wheat Germ

Raise the oven temp to 350

Add all the ingredients to the toasted oatmeal and then the sugar mixture, mix really well.  Line ONE cookie sheet with foil and spray or oil it.  Pat the ingredients onto the cookie sheet and bake in a 350 oven for 25 minutes, will be slightly browned.  Remove and cool on a rack, the bars will firm and crisp up while cooling.  Do not cut the bars while hot, they won't be firm!  Enjoy!