Breakfast To-Go, Granola Bars

Making granola at home, like Meeta says, is not only fun, but unbelievably easy. You can perfectly tailor it to suit your palette. And, best of all, its quite healthy. No funny sounding ingredients in here.

Taking this to the next level, I make granola into bars. They are handy, equally tasty and doesn’t require cold milk to go along, on a chilly morning. A perfect companion for your morning cuppa’ joe. When it comes to bars, Alton Brown’s recipe is my favorite. Its simple, satisfying, flavorsome and flexible. I have made these many times substituting original ingredients with what I had on hand; and it has turned great every single time.

Ingredients

Rolled oats – 2 cups
Raw sunflower seeds – ½ cup
Sliced or slivered almonds – 1 cup
Wheat germ or oat bran – ½ cup
Honey or agave nectar – ½ cup
Brown sugar or jaggery – ¼ cup
Butter – 1 ½ tbsp
Vanilla extract – 2 tsp
Salt – ½ tsp
Dried fruits (apricots, blue berries, goji berries, prunes, raisins, cranberries) – 1 cup

Method

Preheat oven to 350F. Grease a 9x9 glass baking dish. Mix oats, sun flower seeds, almonds, wheat germ on a baking sheet and bake for 8 minutes, mixing once in between. Meanwhile, in a pan, heat butter, brown sugar, vanilla and honey together. After the sugar has dissolved, let the mixture bubble up for a minute. Add oat mixture to jaggery and mix it all together. Transfer the mixture to the greased glass dish and press down evenly with the back of a spatula. Bake for 25 minutes. When cooled, cut into 16 squares.

This is my second entry to Mansi’s WBB – Balanced Breakfasts, an event started by Nandita of Saffron Trail.