I’m sure you’re wondering: Why did Laura decide to make Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars?
Oh, you weren’t wondering? You’re just so used to me sharing recipes that you never question what inspired the recipe? And really, you probably don’t even care too much as you really just want to take a peek at the recipe to see if it looks easy and good enough to try.
It get you. I’m a “scroll to the bottom of the post and just read the recipe” kind of a gal too. But still, I wanted to tell you the question I asked myself before I looked up ideas for how to create Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars. The question was this:
What is a better use of my time – going to the store or making these at home?
It wasn’t really about money, even though making these homemade is going to save a buck or two. It wasn’t about the ingredients, even though making these homemade is going to ensure we only eat the best of the best. What was it about then?
See, now that we have little ones in the house again (currently a 5-year-old and an 8-month-old), along with our teens and college guys home for the summer, I am questioning my best use of my time for EVERYTHING. Not one minute can be wasted, you know?
We’ve been on a bit of a Nature Valley Granola Bar kick, because God is bigger than store-bought granola bars when you have a lot of people to love on. But then we ran out of the bars, and quite a few other staple snacks too. I mean, I did add them to the grocery list, but on that particular day and week, I was trying to avoid going to the store for as many days as possible.
We had fresh produce from our garden and milk from the farm. So all other meals and snacks could be made from what we had so that I wouldn’t have to mess with lugging babies to the store. Can anyone else relate to this?
So while Boy Babe was napping, Bonus Boy and I mixed these up after looking up a few ideas online. He had fun, I had fun, and you can bet that this recipe is super simple because if I’m too lazy to go to the store, I’m certainly not willing to make a difficult recipe, right?
We are very pleased with how these turned out! They include only simple, real food ingredients. They are great for breakfast or for a snack. And they pack well in the diaper bag to, you know, take to the store with us should we ever decide to go again. :)
Homemade Crunchy Granola Bars
- 3¼ cups rolled oats
- ⅔ cups flour (I use freshly ground soft white wheat)
- 3 tablespoons brown sugar or sucanat
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ⅔ cup honey
- ⅓ cup melted coconut oil
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- In a large bowl, mix oats, flour, brown sugar, baking soda, and salt.
- Add honey, coconut oil, and vanilla, stirring until well combined.
- Press mixture down into a parchment paper-lined 9x13 pan.
- Bake in a 350 degree oven for 20-25 minutes or until golden brown.
- Remove pan from oven, and press the bars down with another piece of parchment paper so that they stay nice and tight while cooling.
- After 15 minutes, remove the bars from the pan to cool for a few more minutes.
- Cut them into 12 bars or break into snack-sized bites.
- Allow approximately 2 hours for the bars to become crunchy.
In your current season of life, what is your preference? Buy most food store-bought or make do with what you have at home so you don’t have to mess with a grocery store run?
