Day 176/365: Easy Homemade Granola Bars

This easy homemade granola bar recipe is courtesy of Red Feather Guides in North Park Colorado.

A few years ago my husband (then fiancee) had a wonderful half day horseback ride into the mountains and the guide brought these delicious healthy homemade granola bars. I Can’t say enough about the company and the people. Not only was it a fantastic horseback ride in the Rocky Mountains, but we brought back this amazing recipe which I love to fix for school snacks, hiking trips, and we even took them skiing.

The recipe is at the bottom, but needless to say the “goodies” inside the granola bars can vary, instead of raisins I used dried blueberries (I have 6 lbs a friend gave me). Dried cherries substituted for cranberries too. I added dates too. Can I ever leave a recipe alone? Never!

The first batch was so popular I ended up making two batches. So I’ll be taking these to work this week and have snacks for the kids during their summer school vacation.

These weren’t nearly as good as eating them at 12,000  feet. But then again is anything? Here’s a picture from that trip and another shout-out to Red Feather Guides. If you ever are in northern Colorado and want to go on a horseback ride into the mountains they are the ones to call.

Here is the snack spread the guide shared with us at the summit. We sat on this ledge which overlooked Lake Agnes, it’s behind us in the valley, sorry you can’t see it, and ate our lunch.

Ok, enough of the teasing here is the easy homemade granola bar recipe.

Lurch Germany Flexiform Cereal Bar / Granola Bar Mold 11.8 x 6.9 in 6 cavity – brownKirkland Signature Whole Dried Blueberries: 2 Bags of 20 Oz (1 Bag is 1LB 4 OZ which is 20 Ounces)Food to Live Certified Organic Dried Cranberries (Non-GMO, Kosher, Unsulfured, Bulk) (8 Ounces)365 Everyday Value Organic Old-Fashioned Rolled Oats, 18 oz

Red Feather Homemade Granola Bar Recipe

• 1/2 Cup Butter
• 1 1/4 cup sugar (brown packed, or white)
• 2 Eggs
• 1/3 cup Molasses
• 1 3/4 cup Flour
• 1 tsp Baking Soda
• 1 tsp Salt
• 1 tsp Cinnamon
• 2 cups Old Fashioned Oatmeal
• 1/2 cup nuts
• 1/2 cup Raisins
• 1/2 cup dried Cranberries
• 1 cup Chocolate Chips

Directions

1. Combine flour, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda together in a bowl
2. Combine butter, molasses, sugar and eggs together in 2nd bowl
3. Combine dry ingredients into wet ingredients
4. Combine oatmeal, raisins, chocolate chips, nuts together then add to mixture
5. Spoon into a 19′ x 13′ pan  (parchment paper and spray with Pam-don’t forget this, seriously they will stick, you will regret it)
6. Cook for 20 minutes at 350, check for doneness at this point and length time 5 minutes until the consistency desired.
7. When cool turn upside down with parchment paper, seems to be easier to cut up into bars this way.

I tend to be generous with the “goodies” and find myself adding an extra cup or so of nuts, fruit or chips, still turns out fantastic! Enjoy

More Easy Home Made Granola Recipe Ideas

Granola Recipes: The Ultimate GuideHomemade Granola Bar RecipesGranola! The Ultimate Recipe GuideGranola Cookbook: Delicious Granola & Oat Recipes