Farm Girl Inspirations: Homemade GRANOLA BARS: Create endless variety with just one recipe chart! (2024)

Homemade granola bars are the perfect on-the-go snack.We like them because they're a tidy, hand-held snack that fits nicely into a lunchbox, backpack or purse. But store-bought granola bars can be expensive, and they often contain unwanted ingredients--while lacking the truly healthy ones. It's time to take matters into your own hands! Today, I'm going to show you how to make any variety of granola bar with justoneeasy-to-follow formula. Once you try my free-style recipe chart, you can kiss store-bought good-bye! Say hello to unlimited healthy creations made by YOU!

Why homemade?

Would you like to stash your pantry full of healthy grab-and-go snack bars that contain only the ingredients you choose?You probably won't find many store-bought granola bars offering ingredients like quinoa or chia seeds. Yet when you make your own, you're the boss. Go ahead. Pile in the healthy stuff. It's not as complicated as you may think. In fact, when you know the basic formula, it's easy to plug in any number of wholesome ingredients and turn out delicious granola bars every time.

With my free-style recipe chart,I've removed the guesswork for you.Simply select your choice of ingredients from each category and mix it all together. You can even mix and match within any given category, but I'll explain that more in a bit. The great thing about this one-size-fits-all formula is that it's pretty much fail-safe, while letting you select from what you have on hand in your pantry.Sure, you'll love some concoctions more than others, but that's why you write each one down. So when you turn out a winner, you know how you did it.

Free-style baking is fun. Like my DIY Granola Cereal Formula, and my Free-Style Muffin Mix Chart, today's DIY Free-Style Granola Bar Chartturns baking into a creative adventure. (I'll even show you how it's done, by walking you through one of my recent creations: Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Granola Bars. After that, spreading your wings won't hurt a bit. Are you curious? Then let's get started!

So, what's the basic formula for making granola bars?

Making granola bars is just as flexible as making granola cereal. Here is the basic break-down of ingredients:

Whole Grains: 2 1/2 cups

Flour: 1 cup

Add ins:(optional)

Raw Nuts/Seeds:1 cup

Dried Fruit:1 cup

Candy Chips:3/4 cup

Sweetener: 1 1/4 cup (based on sugar; other sweetener amounts vary)

Spices: (amounts vary, see chart)

Extracts: (2 to 3 teaspoons)

Oil: 1/2 cup

Egg: 1, lightly beaten

How we turn the basic formula into a free-style recipe chart

Once we know the basic formula, it's easy to create a free-style recipe chart with categories of ingredients. We simply take the above recipe components and place them as the headings in our granola bar recipe chart. To create a custom granola bar, simply select one or more ingredients from each category in the chart. If selecting more than one ingredient from any given category, just be sure the total combination for that category equals the total called for amount in the heading. For example, you might combine from the whole grains category 1 cup rolled oats, 1 cup rolled barely and 1/2 cup steel cut oats. (Mixing this way adds variety, flavor, texture and more diverse nutrition). When you add these three items together, you get the called for 2 1/2 cups for the whole grains category. Clear as mud so far? Hang in there! It's about to all make sense. Let's take a look at the chart below...

And that's the chart! Are you getting the idea of how it works? Let's make a batch of granola bars together. To walk you through the baking instructions, we'll use my Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Granola Bar recipe that I recently creating using this free-style chart (these bars ranked a high yum factor among my family, so I think you'll like them).

How to make free-style granola bars
(Sample recipe: Chocolate-Cherry-Almond Granola Bars)

Here are the ingredients (with the free-style categories shown) that I chose from the above recipe chart to makeChocolate-Cherry-Almond Bars:

Ingredients

(Grains: 2 1/2 cups)
2 1/4 cups old fashioned rolled oats
1/4 cup quinoa

(Flour: 1 cup)

1 cup all-purpose flour

(Add-in / Dried Fruit: 1 cup)

1 cup dried tart cherries

(Add-in / Nuts--Seeds: 1 cup)

1/2 cup hemp seeds

1/2 cup sliced almonds

(Add-in / Candy Chips: 3/4 cup)

3/4 cup chocolate chips

(Sweetener: 1 1/4 cup)

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup honey

(Oil: 1/2 cup)

1/2 cup olive oil

1 egg, slightly beaten

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 tsp kosher salt

(Extracts: 2 to 3 teaspoons)

2 1/2 teaspoons almond extract

Instructions

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.

Step 1:Select your ingredients. Using the DIY Free-Style Granola Bar Chart above, select your ingredients based on:

• What you have on hand
• What you think will taste good together
• What you want your bars to offer nutritionally

Be sure to write your selections down along with the amounts you choose to use so you have a record of it. My free-style chart shows the total called for amounts for each category, but as you can see from my sample recipe, you can combine multiple items within any given group. How you break these down is up to you. Just make sure to make their combined total equal the called for amount for that category. Once you have an idea of the ingredients you're going to use, it's time to start concocting!

Step 2:Measure all your dry ingredients into a large bowl, then mix them together until thoroughly combined.

Step 3: Add the wet ingredients to the dry.Mix the oil, egg, chosen extracts, and any liquid sweeteners into the dry mixture and combine. TIP: If using honey, put the oil in first, then use the same measuring cup to measure your honey. Your honey will slide right out of the cup without sticking to the sides.

Step 4:Spread mixture into a pan and bake. Line a 9 X 13 inch baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a few extra inches up the sides (this will make removing the bars easier). Spray the parchment paper with cooking spray once it's placed in the dish. Place the granola bar mix into the dish and press it out with your fingers, or the back of spoon, until it's evenly spread to fill the bottom of the pan.Bake at 350 degrees for 35 minutes, or until the edges turn a golden brown.

Step 5: Allow bars to cool before cutting. When the bars are done, remove them from the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for about 30 minutes before cutting. Don't let them cool completely, or they will be more likely to crumble when you cut them. After 30 minutes, while still warm, cut into 16 rectangular bars.

Step 6: Wrap the bars and store. To store your granola bars, it helps to wrap them individually so they don't stick together. Cut strips of parchment paper that are about 3 x 6 inches. Wrap each bar and tie a piece of bakers twine around it. Store wrapped bars in an air-tight container in your fridge. Use within 1 week. Or you can freeze your bars, in which case they should be used within 3 months.

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