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organiclilac
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| Posted: Feb 29 2012 at 10:10pm | IP Logged
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So, I just made a batch of skillet granola (found the recipe here) - tweaked it to make it gingerbread-flavored, and it's soooo good. But, I am wondering, what is the magic formula to turn loose granola into bars? Help me out, ladies!
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Tracy, wife to Shawn, mama to Samuel (4/01) and Joseph (11/11), and Thomas (2/15)
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Feb 29 2012 at 10:43pm | IP Logged
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Oh, I would love a recipe for that, too. We bought a bunch of bulk granola and I think we would eat it a lot more quickly if I made bars out of it.
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Theresa
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KackyK
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| Posted: March 01 2012 at 6:56am | IP Logged
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Okay well I am no grand cook who can "make up" recipes. However, I recently made a homemade Larabar type recipe. It literally had 4 ingredients...dates, chocolate chips, peanut butter and almonds. Yummo!
So I'm wondering, because it is the dates with that touch of pb (it was 4C of dates with just 2 TBsp of pb) if then you mixed in the granola, it would hold it altogether, kwim? Just food processed it all till pretty fine and then smushed it down into a 9X13 type pan lined with wax/parchment paper and then put it in the fridge.
It would be a Larabar/granola bar mash up! 
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KackyK
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MaryM
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| Posted: March 02 2012 at 2:14am | IP Logged
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I have a recipe from my sister that is great for granola bars but it is a from scratch one of all the ingredients pre-granola. It has brown sugar and sweetened condensed milk as the liquid binders.
I was curious if I could find a recipe for what you mentioned - binding the already flavored and toasted granola. I found this one which uses honey, brown sugar, and a little oil as the binder for already made granola. Looks good.
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Mary M. in Denver
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stefoodie
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| Posted: March 02 2012 at 5:39am | IP Logged
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Some recipes add flour and egg and bake it kinda like making cookie bars, except with granola instead of raw ingredients. Or start out with raw ingredients, heavy on the oats, nuts, seeds, fruit and just add a bit of flour and egg to bind. This does result in a more chewy than crunchy granola, don't know if that matters.
I've also done our own Larabars like Kacky because some family members are allergic to the different nuts in Larabars -- we make ours with almonds only -- dates and/or figs + cocoa powder + almonds + a bit of agave nectar is our basic formula. The dates and figs have enough moisture in them to hold the whole thing together. I cut these into bars and wrap them individually in parchment. My family doesn't like it when I add extra ingredients like flax seed or sesame 
Honey (or agave nectar or even maple syrup) plus a bit of nut/seed butter and some brown sugar will also work, I've done this but don't have the ratios -- I play around with this a bit but don't write it down since the kids are happy to eat it whether it comes out crumbly or firm. They just switch to a fork if it's not something that can be handled easily. 
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stef
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 02 2012 at 4:59pm | IP Logged
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I am experimenting with this today. I'll let you know how they turn out!
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Theresa
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keac
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| Posted: March 06 2012 at 11:03pm | IP Logged
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This was a technique from a recent Cook's Illustrated magazine. I tried it with my usual recipe and it worked! I bake mine in the oven in a large sheet pan. But instead of the usual periodic stirring that's called for, you use the back of a spatula and firmly press the granola into the pan. Then bake it without stirring. After it cools, you can break it up into whatever size clumps you like! It was perfect and a big, big hit around here.
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Angi
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| Posted: March 06 2012 at 11:50pm | IP Logged
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honey + peanut butter and squish it together? 
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: March 07 2012 at 1:37pm | IP Logged
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Ok, here is what I did and it worked pretty well. For 6 cups of granola.
Mix together 1/2 cup maple syrup, 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup brown sugar. Heat gently in saucepan until melty. Pour into granola and mix well.(use buutered spoon or hands. Very sticky!) Transfer to buttered baking dish (I used 9X14) and press down with buttered spatula until flat. Bake at 350 for 15 mins. Cool completely, transfer from dish to cutting board and cut into bars.
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Theresa
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4Real Forums : Our Lady's Loom, Larder, and Laundry
Topic: granola --> bars
