Dangerously Good Granola Bars

These granola bars are dangerous. Bake them with extreme caution. Even on a full stomach, they are sooooooooo good, all you're going to want to do is eat them. But if you do venture forth, and make these amazing granola bars, they'll probably ruin any other granola bars for you. I have a whole bag of a variety of my favorite granola bars, but now they are dead to me. Previously, I would rejoice at eating one of my favorite Kashi, Larabar, Cliff or Fiber Plus granola bars. No longer! Now, I only want these. In fact, I loved the first batch so much, I made another batch to freeze!
Oh, yum yum yum. There they are fresh out of the oven, golden brown and calling to me.
Huh? No, I didn't taste the granola bars.....uh, that little bite? Yeah, I uh, ran short of granola....

So, you're probably going to want to know how to make these granola bars. Well, its quite easy, and involves a lot of freedom of choice. For example, you can use any nut butter you like. You can also use your favorite granola, dried fruits, and/or nuts. I chose not to add nuts, because I don't really like nuts. I eat them, and I like Larabars, but I like dried fruit much better in my granola bars (probably why I like the Larabars, you can't really taste the nuts. Here is the recipe I used, adapted from 101 Cookbooks.

Dangerously Good Granola Bars
1 2/3 c. Granola (first batch I used Whole Foods 5 Grain, second batch - Low Fat Kroger Brand)
1/2 c. sugar
1/3 c. whole wheat flour
1/4 tsp. cinnamon
2-3 c. dried fruit or nuts (I used 2 cups mixed berry mix, which was AMAZING)
1/3 c. Nut Butter (I used Peanut Butter & Co. Dark Chocolate Dreams)
3.5 Tbs. Melted Butter
1/4 c. honey
1 Tbs. water

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees, and line a 8"x8" pan with parchment paper, so that it covers the bottom, two sides, and hangs over the sides (rectangle paper in square pan-the paper will be longer). Grease the paper and exposed sides of the pan.
2. Pour your globby granola-y "dough" into the pan, and press down so its smashed in there and pretty level.
3. Bake for 30-40 min, it should get a little tan on top :-)
4. Cool completely in the pan. I also chilled them in the fridge for a few hours, because if you cut them warm (I know, I know, they look so delicious, but be patient!) they will crumble everywhere. However, cutting them after they've chilled is like trying to cut a brick. It worked best when I chilled the pan, then let it "thaw" for like an hour or so at room temp. If anyone tries these out and gets really nicely cut, un-crumbly bars with minimum pain and suffering, let me know!

Wa-la! Yummy yummy granola bars! You can store them on the counter, in the fridge, or in the freezer (but let cold ones thaw a little bit before you eat them or you'll break a tooth!).
I wish I had a picture of a cut granola bar to show you, but I have a little problem with self control when it comes to these bars :-)