Granola Bars

Ever since his clementine clafoutis, I’ve taken Mark Bittman’s suggestions for specific recipes with a whole heaping tablespoon of salt.

But when it comes to general ideas and cooking methods, he’s often spot-on.  These homemade granola bars were a wonderful idea, and best of all, easily adapted to your own tastes and preferences.  The original recipe called for apricots, which was a definite no-go for me.  But sticking to the general outlines of the recipe — 1 cup of glue (i.e. honey and nut butter) to every 3 cups of ingredients (i.e. granola and nuts), I easily found a winning combination!

homemade granola bars

Recipe adapted from Mark Bittman.

PREP TIME: 5 minutes
DOWN TIME: 2 hours
COOK TIME: No Cooking
YIELD: 8 Bars

WHAT TO GRAB:
2 cups granola (I used vanilla crunch granola from Whole Foods)
3 tablespoons toasted wheat germ (toast at 350 for 7 minutes)
1/2 cup roasted almonds
1/2 cup white chocolate chips
1/4 teaspoon Kosher salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup almond butter

HOW YOU DO IT:

1.  Lightly grease a square baking pan.  Line the pan with plastic wrap.

2. Put almond butter and honey in a small saucepan over medium heat for 2 to 3 minutes or until they melt together; whisk to combine.

3.  In a mixing bowl, add the granola, wheat germ, almonds, chocolate chips, and salt.  Add the almond-butter and honey mixture, and mix well, until combined.

4.  Set the mixture into the baking pan, and allow it to firm up, in the refrigerator for about two hours.  Once set, remove the bars by lifting the edges of the plastic wrap out of the dish.  Peel off the plastic and cut the bars to any size you like!