- Not to toot my own horn
but these homemade granola bars nail that chewy texture
that we all know and love in a classic granola bar.
I guess fourth time was the charm
during my recipe testing last week.
Granola bars are the perfect portable snack
and these chocolate chip granola bars
that are dotted with lots of little mini chocolate chips
are the perfect balance between sweet and salty.
All you've gotta do is whip these up on a Sunday
and you or your kiddos will have a healthy snack
to enjoy throughout the week.
So let me show you how to make 'em.
To get started, pre-heat your oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit
and then line an eight inch square pan with parchment paper.
There's a few ways you can line your pan.
I know everyone seems to have their favorite method
but here's two ways that I frequently use.
For the first method,
I'll trace the pan on a piece of parchment paper.
And by the way, precut parchment paper sheets
are such a convenient item in the kitchen.
I'll link the ones I use below.
Then I'll use scissors to cut out the corners
of the parchment paper that hit the corner edges
of the pan line.
It's super easy and then all you have to do
is place it in the pan and you've got perfect little handles
that come out the side.
But for an even easier method
you can take one parchment paper sheet
and fold one edge over
then just line up the pan next to it
and eyeball about the width of the pan
and fold over the other edge.
When you place it in the pan
just make sure the folded edges are on the underside.
And I should have also mentioned
on the previous method to make sure
any pen or pencil markings are on the underside as well.
And that's it, an easy peasy way to line your pan.
To make the granola bars add two cups of quick cooking oats
and not rolled oats to a large bowl.
Along with one cup of puffed rice.
Puffed rice is a single ingredient
and puffier than rice crisps,
which often have added sugar and other ingredients
added to them.
Now both will work in this recipe
but I just wanted to let you know that there is a difference
between puffed rice and rice crisps
and the latter of which would be something like
Rice Krispies cereal.
So as always do make sure to read labels.
Next step is a half a cup of chopped nuts
and you can use your favorite nuts.
Today I'm using a combination of pecans and almonds
and to get about a half a cup of chopped nuts
I'll use about three quarters cup or so of whole nuts.
You can chop these by hand with a knife
or use a mini food processor.
And I'm opting for the food processor today
as I somehow managed to injure my pointer finger
being the klutz that I am
which makes chopping a bit more difficult.
You can chop the nuts as fine or as rough as you'd like.
I usually like a mix of textures.
So it looks about so,
and then add those nuts to the bowl.
Add half a cup of mini chocolate chips
and mini chocolate chips just means more little pieces
of chocolate scattered throughout.
Plus a quarter cup of flax seeds,
or you could sub in chia seeds
and a quarter teaspoon of kosher salt.
Those are all of the dry ingredients.
So give that a stir and then set it aside.
In a separate medium bowl
add one third cup of drippy and creamy almond butter.
You can use any nut or seed butter in this recipe
so feel free to switch it up
with something like peanut butter, cashew butter,
or even sunflower seed butter.
Then add half a cup of honey,
a quarter cup of coconut oil,
and two teaspoons of vanilla extract.
Stir all of the wet ingredients
until they're fully combined
and you've got a thin drippy texture.
Now you'll combine the two
by pouring the wet ingredients on top of the dry ingredients
and stirring everything together one last time.
The more you stir, the more all of the dry ingredients
will get coated in that sticky, sweet, honey, nut butter
glue, and that's what you want.
And once you feel like the oats
and puffed rice are fully coated,
go ahead and pour the mixture
into your parchment paper-lined pan.
(gentle music)
Use the back of a spoon to flatten the granola bar mixture
into the pan.
And if you'd like, you can sprinkle a few more
chocolate chips on top for good measure.
I mean, who's gonna say no to that?
But a super important tip to make sure your bars
do stick together properly is that they need to be
really, really compacted down in the pan.
So take a small piece
of parchment paper and then use your fingers and hands
to really press the mixture tightly into the pan.
You can do this without parchment paper
if you'd like to coat your hands in a little oil.
I just prefer the parchment paper
so that my fingers don't get all sticky.
Place the pan in the oven and bake the granola
for about 20 to 25 minutes for chewier bars
and 25 to 30 minutes for crunchier bars.
You'll know they're done when the edges
have barely started to turn a light golden color.
Once they're done, remove them from the oven
and let them cool a bit to room temperature
then place them in the fridge for an hour to firm up.
Letting them chill completely is also important
to ensuring the bars stay together so don't skip that step.
Then once they've properly chilled,
you can simply pull up on your parchment paper handles
to remove them from the pan
and place them on a cutting board.
The last thing you have to do
is simply slice the big granola square into 12 bars.
I usually start by slicing the square in half
then each half into thirds.
And lastly, one perpendicular slice
across the middle for 12 evenly-sized granola bars.
(gentle music)
You'll feel good eating these healthy, homemade granola bars
knowing there's no processed sugar,
artificial flavorings, caramel colorings
or other completely unnecessary ingredients
like what you'll find in store bought packaged versions.
And to be honest, you guys, an ingredient list like this,
which is from a very popular packaged granola bar
is just insane.
Nope.
All you need are these Downshiftology
granola bars filled with simple wholesome ingredients.
I hope you enjoyed today's video.
And if you did give it a thumbs up,
share it with your family and friends,
especially the ones who are always getting
those afternoon 3:00 PM munchies.
And I will see you again in the next video.
(gentle music)