Last week I made some delicious granola bars, so I thought I’d share them with you. The recipe is from America’s Test Kitchen Healthy Family Cookbook.
The first step was to toast the pumpkin seeds, chopped cashews, and slivered almonds. I also added sunflower seeds, even though it’s not in the recipe. I was worried about burning the seeds and nuts, but as soon as they started to brown they became really fragrant, so I knew it was time to take them off the burner.
I then toasted the oats with some butter. The same thing happened as they began to brown – they smelled great. I then mixed them up in the same bowl as the seeds and nuts.
Next came the hard part – making the caramel. Although it didn’t turn out quite right this time, I have made it successfully before. I think my problem this time was that I didn’t let the sugar and water mixture get hot enough. Once I added a little cream to the mixture, I poured it over the bowl with the seed/nut/oatmeal mixture and stirred like crazy to mix it all up.
I then poured it out into a foil lined cookie sheet and flattened it as best as I could. Then the hard part came – waiting for half an hour for it to cool and harden. I was surprised when I poured it out how much it made.
When it was finally ready I cut it up and discovered that because the caramel didn’t set properly the granola bars were really crumbly. They still tasted great, but they were incredibly messy to eat.
Do you make your own granola bars? What’s your favourite flavour of granola bars?