Homemade Granola bars

This past weekend, my cooking adventure was my first attempt at making homemade granola bars. My boyfriend Scott and I have been getting some really delicious organic chocolate coconut granola bars from our local CSA, but I figured they had to be fairly easy to make. I decided to start with pre-made granola, rather than trying to make my own...my last attempt at making granola turned out sub-par. Plus the recently opened Los Alamos Co-op had some really tasty looking hemp and oat granola that I thought would make an interesting base for my granola bars.

I used a basic King Arthur recipe for granola bars that called for butter, sugar, corn syrup, eggs and vanilla, plus 5 cups of granola, which could also include dried fruit and nuts. I decided to keep this first batch fairly simple and only added some roasted and salted almonds as well as some toasted coconut. I also omitted the sugar, since the granola was already fairly sweet to begin with and I didn't see a need for more added sugar. 

After mixing all the ingredients together (and adding a little more corn syrup for proper cohesion), I jammed the mixture into a casserole dish and baked it at 375 for about 25 minutes. The edges began to brown, which had me a little worried, but it worked out in the long run: the bars made from the edges are crunchy, and the bars made from the middle are chewy! 

Granola bars right out of the oven

I let them sit for about 10 minutes before cutting them into rectangles. I kept the almonds whole, but I will chop them up for the next round, because they made cutting a little difficult. 

As the granola bars continued to cool, I melted some dark chocolate chips with some milk to create a chocolate glaze for the top. One the granola bars had cooled sufficiently, I drizzled the chocolate on top, and then put them in the freezer to harden the chocolate. 

Ready for the freezer!

After leaving the granola bars in the freezer for about 20 minutes, I re-cut them and wrapped each granola bar individually in plastic wrap.

Taste test verdict: two thumbs up from both Scott and I! The saltiness of the almonds is a nice balance to the sweetness of the granola, and the little puffed hemp seeds in the granola makes for a great overall texture. I will definitely make these again!