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| {homemade granola bars} |
As I bit into my granola bar today at work I thought, this leaves a lot to be desired. Last year I went through a (delicious) phase where I actually made the little lunch time staples myself. Why did I stop doing that I wondered as tried to swallow a mouth full of rock hard, bone dry grains? Oh right, because they were so good we would eat the whole pan...in two days…one of those recipes.
When I got home I asked Jeff if he would like me to make granola bars again. Of course he would. Only this time I had a plan, a new Pond family ordinance:
Ye shall only eat one delicious homemade granola bar per day.
He agreed and so I busted out the wheat germ.
The recipe I always follow is from The Barefoot Contessa: Back to Basics cookbook. Word to the wise, I have tried to make these healthier by substituting the brown sugar with maple syrup and the bars don’t harden. I have also tried to cut down on the butter with adverse effects, namely dryness of Kashi proportions. I gave up trying to tweak the recipe and figured, if homemade granola bars are the worst thing I eat in a day, I am doing pretty well.
So far I’ve stuck to the date/ apricot/ almond combination laid out in the recipe, but I think the bars would be awesome with chocolate chips and peanut butter or dried apples and cinnamon.
Ina (I am on a first name basis with the Contessa) mentions that the bars are better the next day and they really are. They firm up a lot overnight, which makes them more bar, less cereal blob like. Despite that I think I will go cut them and enjoy a cereal blob now, I haven’t had my daily ration yet.
xo
Check out Ina's recipe here: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/ina-garten/homemade-granola-bars-recipe/index.html
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| {dates, apricots & almonds} |
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| {cooling in the late afternoon sun} |
Em
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