My Pinterest Test Kitchen. Cook This: Granola Bars.

And so after the rousing success of the cinnamon roll I told you I would share some of the recipes I’ve been whipping up lately.

I have been racing through my Pinterest Cook This board.

Maybe you’re like me and you pin a bunch of delicious looking food and sometimes you make it and sometimes you don’t.

Sometimes I wonder if what my ring-laden hands create could ever possibly match the perfectly-lit photographic images on the computer screen.

Could anything that divine be produced in my full sun yellow, usually somewhat disheveled, kitchen?

Sometimes yes.  Sometimes no.

Anyway.

Here’s my plan.

I pin it.  I cook it.  I tell you about it.

And that way if you’ve pinned it but have yet to find the time to try it, maybe I can save you the trouble.  Or spur you on to try it tonight.

Let’s call it the Pinterest Test Kitchen.

Actually, let’s call it something much cooler.

Any suggestions?

First up – a tried and true one for our family – granola bars.

I’ve mentioned them  before but I’ll share the details here.

We have now made this so often I have lost track.

We make them before almost every camping trip, for early morning grab and go breakfasts and for general snacking purposes.

The recipe is tacked up on the inside of one of our kitchen cabinets for quick reference.

I have played with the recipe and added a few bits here and there.

I even go so far now as to frequently make my own granola and use that granola as the base.

How’s that for homemade?

And when I say “my own” granola I actually mean a recipe for granola from my friend Candace.

Granola 

3c oats
1c nuts (optional)
6tbs maple syrup  (or honey, or half of each)
6tbs brown sugar
1/4c oil
2tbs warm water
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp vanilla
cinnamon to taste

Preheat oven to 250.

In a large bowl toss the oats and cinnamon.  In a separate bowl, whisk together the rest of the ingredients minus the nuts.  Pour the liquid over the oats and stir until evenly coated.  Spread out on baking sheet.  If you want chunks, squeeze some handfuls into clumps.

Bake for 1hr and 15 minutes, stirring occasionally until evenly toasted.

Stir in nuts or craisins or whatever and cool.  Store in airtight container.

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I have been doubling this recipe.  I never add nuts or raisins or anything extra.

The kids adore it.  I make a batch and it lasts about a week and a half or so.  Bergen pours milk over it and consumes it as if it were cereal.

I included the original link for the website where I found the granola bar recipe but I’ll also include my own alterations here as well.

Granola Bars

(Taken and adapted from Back to the Cutting Board)

• 4 tbsp. (1/2 stick) unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 2 cups plain granola
• 1 cup rice cereal (Trader Joe’s has low cost Crisp Rice cereal.)
• 1/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1. Line one 9×13 inch baking pan with foil. Lightly butter or spray the foil. Set aside.
2. Combine butter, honey and brown sugar in a large saucepan over medium heat. Stir until the butter is melted.
3. Bring the mixture to a boil, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar is dissolved, about 2 minutes. Remove the saucepan from the heat.
4. Add the granola and rice cereal into the saucepan and fold them into the sauce until evenly coated.
5. Spread the mixture into the prepared pan and press firmly with a spatula to evenly fill. Sprinkle the chocolate chips on to the top of the granola and gently press them down with the spatula.
6. Let sit at room temperature for 15-20 minutes or until mostly cooled and set; lift out of the pan and cut into bars.

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The original recipe includes peanut butter chips or marshmallows or raisins as add-in options.  We have tried the peanut butter chips and the kids loved them.  I usually forget to buy peanut butter chips however so I seldom use them.  I don’t care for raisins in bars or cookies and I just have never had marshmallows around when I’ve made these.

As for the Keigley Thumbs Up rating system – 16 thumbs up.

(That’s every thumb, in case you’re counting.  It’s as good as any recipe here can get.)

In other words, don’t just pin this one and ignore it.

Toss them together today!