17 May 2009

peanut butter granola bars

We love baked oatmeal and all things peanut butter in this house ... this is a wonderful mishmash of the two. Got it here.

Peanut Butter Granola Squares

Preheat oven to 325 degrees.

Ingredients:

4 1/2 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup whole wheat flour (or another kind of flour if you prefer)
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt (optional)

1 cup butter*
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 cup peanut butter (preferably organic PB with no sugar added)

Directions:
Combine oats through salt in a large bowl. Stir to combine.

Heat butter through peanut butter in a sauce pan until all are melted. Add melted mixture to the dry ingredients in the bowl. Stir to make sure oats are completely covered.

Spread the mixture into a 13 x 9 baking pan. Bake at 325 degrees for about 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into squares. Enjoy!

*****
Comments: I used 1/2 c butter (well, dairy free margarine) and 3/4 c applesauce, and added about 1/2 c craisins. They were done at about 27 minutes. I used regular white flour (because I'm a dork and my wheat flour has gone bad).

The pan lasted for more than 2 days as it's very filling and we all could only eat one at a time, and they're portable and healthy, triple score! I'm actually eating the last one right now (because I work nights and need something to get me through). Kiddo loved them for breakfast, and even ate the craisins. lol. Hubby loved them, too, grabbing one in the morning as soon as he got home from work. They are soft to begin with but if you forget to cover them, they harden up a bit. We did take a couple squares in baggies while we were out and those were softer as well.

I would give them 5 stars because even if I wouldn't take them to a dinner party, I would serve them to house guests for breakfast.

1 comment:

treen said...

Oh wow! These are SO good! Mine are very crumbly and they're not holding together very well, but that may be because they're still hot from the oven and haven't set yet.

I skipped the flaxseed and used white flour, but did use the butter/applesauce combo instead of all butter. I added raisins to just half, because Adam isn't a fan of oatmeal raisin cookies. Maybe he'll like them in this - we'll see when he gets home.

As far as I'm concerned, we have a new Caudle breakfast staple. I'll tweak it around next time and get some wheat flour and maybe even go a little crazy and get the flaxseed. HA!