My first granola bars!

I got my recipe from the Hillbilly Housewife. I made mine in two parts, first I made the granola, then the granola bars. Below are the recipes. Both originally called for margarine, but we don't use that stuff here. These were a huge hit in this house!



Honey granola

• 3 cups dry oatmeal
• 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup each nuts and dried fruit (optional)

First melt the butter in a 3-quart saucepan over medium heat. Add the honey and salt. Honey is easiest to measure in a well oiled measuring cup. Otherwise, just scoop the last of it out of the cup with a clean finger or spoon. Heat the honey briefly with the margarine and then add the oatmeal. Stir it up nicely. It smells really good. Turn the mixture onto an ungreased cookie sheet, the kind with shallow sides; a large 9 by 13-inch pan works well too. Spread the granola out evenly and bake it at 375° for 10 minutes. It should be a toasty brown. Now remove it from the oven and allow it to cool and crisp up right there in the pan. Store it in a clean coffee can or sealed canister. Add the nuts and dried fruit, if you are using them, when the granola is cool. Serve it with milk like regular cereal, or if you are hankering for a divinely inspired treat, get a big bowl of plain yogurt, and sprinkle a large handful of granola on top of it. Mmmmmmmm, very tasty. Sliced bananas are good with this too.

Peanut butter granola bars

• 3 cups of homemade granola
• 3 tablespoons butter
  
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 medium eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• Optional: 1/2 cup raisins, or peanuts, or chocolate chips, or coconut, or sunflower seeds, or chopped apricots, or dates, or whatever strikes your fancy

You may use any recipe for granola that you like. If it already has peanuts and raisins added then you probably won’t want to add more, but you could if you wanted to. The end results wouldn’t be affected that much either way.

In a 2 quart sized saucepan melt the butter and peanut butter together. Make sure the heat is low and stir it a lot to melt it evenly. Meanwhile crack both eggs into a cereal bowl and beat them up with a fork. When the butter and peanut butter are completely melted together remove the pan from the heat. Whisk in the eggs. You have to do this quickly so the eggs won’t cook into scrambled eggs and peanut butter mess. The mixture will thicken and emulsify making a nice dough like texture. Beat in the vanilla. Stir in the prepared homemade granola. Add any optional ingredients to suit your taste. Turn the mixture into an oiled 8-inch square pan. Chill the bars in the fridge until hard. Cut into 16 squares. Serve with milk for a good snack, or pack in lunch boxes as a (relatively) healthy treat.

I added raisins and chopped walnuts to mine. YUM!!!!