Granola bars make a great alternative to cereal at breakfast time or a snack when you're out and about. They are simple to make and you can always mix things up a bit by changing the seeds, nuts and dried fruit combinations that you add. Very versatile are these little beauties!
Be careful when you toast!
Now when it comes to toasting the oats, nuts and seeds, don't be tempted to leave them in the oven longer than the recipe states, even though when you take them out, they will look a little anaemic. They are going to be baked for a further half an hour or so and so over-toasting will lead to incredibly crunchy granola bars!
A little tip...
As soon as your bars come out of the oven, cut them into squares/rectangles in the tin and remove from the tin once they have cooled down but are still warm. If you leave them until they are cold, they'll be very difficult to get out of the tin whole.
So, here's the Granola Bars recipe for you to try...
Heat oven to 160C/fan 140C/gas 3.
Ingredients
100g margarine (or butter for a richer taste)
Extra margarine for greasing
200g porridge oats
100g pumpkin seeds (or sunflower seeds for example)
50g sesame seeds
50g chopped cashews (or walnuts for example)
3 tbsp honey (you could use golden syrup if you prefer a slightly sweeter taste)
100g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
100g dried cranberries (apricots, cherries or blueberries work really well or you could use a mix of fruits)
Method
Grease and line the base of a 18 x 25cm tin.
In a roasting tin, mix together the oats, nuts and seeds and spread out. Place in the oven for 5-10 minutes to lightly toast.
In a saucepan add the margarine, honey and sugar and warm until melted, stirring occasionally. Pour the toasted oat mix into the wet ingredients and stir to thoroughly combine then pour the mixture into your prepared tin and press it down. Bake for 30 minutes. Cool in the tin, then cut into 12 bars.