Clean Out Your Pantry Granola

Granola bars, take four

This recipe should be called Cranberry Cherry Chocolate Chip Coconut Pecan Honey Maple Peanut Butter Chewy Granola Bars, but that is quite a mouthful. In short, I cleaned out my pantry. Never before has spring cleaning tasted so good.

The Story

I used to think granola was for old people. Growing up I would strongly resist my mother’s attempts to buy healthy cereal. If it had the word “oats,” “bran” or “granola” on the box, I would loudly protest if she tried to put it into the shopping cart. I insisted only on cereals loaded in sugar, like Lucky Charms or Cookie Crisp. Life didn’t get any sweeter than having cookies for breakfast!

Now that I’m older, I am sometimes amazed to find myself putting oat, bran and granola cereals in my shopping cart of my own free will. Oats and bran make it into my morning routine on a regular basis. However, to be honest, I’ll still have the occasional cookie for breakfast.

This particular granola bar recipe has so many sweet ingredients it is a lot like having a cookie for breakfast.

Granola bars, take one

The Moral of the Story

Granola is not just for grown-ups. It’s for the young-at-heart too.

About the Recipe

When it comes to granola, I have two go-to recipes and both are from Allrecipes.

This recipe is my own variation on the Granola Bars III recipe using leftover ingredients from previous baking adventures I discovered when cleaning out my pantry.

The Cast of Characters

Oatmeal for granola
The oats in this recipe are the key ingredient to keeping it healthy.

The Play-by-Play

Mix together the dry ingredients.
Granola ingredients, take one

Mix together the wet ingredients.
Granola ingredients, take five

Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients.
Mixing granola, take one

Press the mixture into a 9×13 baking dish. Bake for 20 minutes.
Granola in the oven

Slice into bars and enjoy!
Granola bars, take three

Recipe: Clean Out Your Pantry Granola

Summary: A moist, sweet and chewy granola bar

Ingredients

2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup all-purpose flour
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
¼ cup dried cranberries
¼ cup cherry chips
¼ cup chocolate chips
¼ cup coconut
1/2 cup wheat bran
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1/2 cup honey
¼ cup maple syrup
1 tablespoon peanut butter
1 egg
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Instructions

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Place a piece of parchment paper in a 9×13 pan and spray with Pam.
  2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, flour, brown sugar, dried cranberries, cherry chips, chocolate chips, coconut, wheat bran, salt, cinnamon and pecans.
  3. In another smaller bowl, mix together the vegetable oil, honey, maple syrup, peanut butter, egg and vanilla extract.
  4. Mix the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients, and press the mixture into the 9×13 baking pan.
  5. Bake for 20 minutes.
  6. Let cool completely before slicing into bars.

The Footnotes

  • About the baking time: If you like your granola bars more crisp, bake for about 30 minutes instead of 20 minutes.
  • About making substitutions: The beauty of this recipe is that it is so versatile. You can substitute any mix of ingredients you like. Just be sure to substitute the same proportions of dry ingredients to moist ones as called for in the original recipe.
Baking time (duration): 20 minutes

Number of servings (yield): 24 bars

Meal type: breakfast

My rating: 5 stars:  ★★★★★ 1 review(s)

What’s your favorite breakfast cereal?

Published by Lori

I'm the "girl" in Girl Meets Oven.

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