How to Make Delicious Granola Bars with Ease

    When I switched to a vegan diet, I wanted a delicious, nutritious and portable snack food. A granola bar seemed fit all these requirements. These granola bars are based on a recipe I found in a vegan cookbook,  the "Oh She Glows Cookbook" by Angela Liddon. This book is an excellent source for great vegan recipes. I've been making them ever since and often. I quickly converted the cumbersome volume measurements to grams and used a kitchen scale to quickly and efficiently make these delicious bars. I transferred the recipe to a spreadsheet and expanded it from 12 to 18 bars so that I could use a 9x13" cake pan to form the bars and better meet strong household demand. A batch costs about $6 ($.33 a bar) to make.

Here is the recipe converted onto a spreadsheet for those who count calories:

Note: 4.2 calories per gram

1) Measure out 81g (3/4 cup) of pecan (or other chopped nuts, as desired) pieces and place on a cookie sheet and roast for 10 minutes in a 300 degree oven. When done allow them to cool.

2) Meanwhile measure out 240g (2 1/4 cup) oatmeal, 53g (1 7/8 cup) crisp rice cereal, 54g (3/8 cup) sunflower seeds, 51g (3/8 cup) dried cranberries,1 1/2 tsp cinnamon and 3g (3/8 tsp) salt into a large bowl. Mix together.

adding the crisp rice cereal

3) Add the cooled pecans to the rest of the ingredients in the bowl.

4) In a small saucepan use a whisk to mix 256g (3/4 cup) of the corn syrup (or rice syrup) and 105g (3/8 cup) of the peanut butter. Heat over medium heat on a stove top just till bubbles begin to form.
Remove from the stove and add 6g (3/8tsp) vanilla extract to the syrup mix.

5) Pour the wet mix into the dry and stir together by hand with a spoon or spatula till very well mixed. Remove all the syrup mixture and take all the time and strokes you need to mix together very well.

6) Pour the mixture as evenly as possible into the cake pan. When loosely and evenly distributed, press with a cutting board until very compacted and flat and of even thickness. The more compacted, the better the bars will hold together.

7) Cool in a freezer for ten or fifteen minutes. I prefer a refrigerator for an hour or two.

8) Take the sheet of bars out of the pan by lifting with the wax paper.

9) Cut into 18 even bars with a template if desired. I made a piece of laminated poster board cut 1 7/16" by 4 3/16" to improve my chances of making 18 nearly identical bars.

     For storage the bars should be refrigerated. They can be placed together in zipper bags or just left in place in the covered cake pan or individually wrapped. These bars only take twenty minutes to put together plus the nut roasting and cooling time.

     There are endless variations possible. Use raisins or other dried fruit in place of cranberries. Experiment with them. Tailor them to your tastes. Use ingredients on hand at the moment. Divide or multiply the recipe to fit any size container. These are fun and easy to make. Enjoy and keep eating healthy!