Bonus day | Granola Bars take 2

  I feel like I got a bonus day yesterday when I decided to keep Joel home from preschool because he had a sore throat.  I was already looking forward to being home some to get things done, but not having to go back and forth to preschool was a cherry on top.  I reverted back to my former stay at home mom life of having the luxury to run an errand right after drop off, cleaning the kitchen, watering the plants, making meatballs to freeze for future use, and making another batch of granola bars to restock, all before lunch.  As for the granola bars, I have refined my recipe a bit in hopes that all 4 of my children will like them.  I know there are a few of you out there that wanted to make these or already have, so I wanted to share my secrets!

    Of course, after getting started, I realized I used the rest of my sliced almonds in my nut muesli I have with my cereal and so I salvaged as much as I could without too many pepitas and coconut flakes contaminating for fear of a revolt.

  I didn't have enough, so I also ground up some raw almonds along with the oats.  I think I will be doing only whole almonds like this in the future.  Less processing of the almonds and cheaper to buy whole than sliced!

  I had a little spatula licker ready for the exact moment I no longer I needed it.

    Doesn't look too much different, but there were some serious inspections going on. 

  I also started wrapping them like this because tape does not stick to parchment, fyi.

  My little one who wouldn't eat the previous batches, liked these.  Mom for the win!  The big difference:  brown rice syrup.  I still put in some honey, but the brown rice syrup has a much milder flavor.  The honey still comes through, but I definitely like this version better.

  Here are the ingredients.  The directions were mostly copied from my previous post on Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars with Brown Rice Syrup

Adapted from Once Upon a Chef

12 Tbls. salted butter

2/3 cup dark brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

1 Tbls. vanilla extract

1/4 tsp. salt

4 cups old fashioned oats processed in a food processor until mostly fine, some big pieces are okay (or you could use instant oats)

4 cups crispy rice cereal

1/2 cup sliced almonds

1/2 cup whole almonds chopped up

1/2 cup ground flax

2/3 cup mini chocolate chips

Directions from Once Upon a Chef:

1. Line 2 9 x 13-inch baking pans with parchment.
2. In a large pot, combine the butter, brown sugar, honey, and brown rice syrup. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring constantly. Lower the heat and simmer until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is slightly thickened, about 2 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla and salt.
3. Add the oats, rice cereal, almonds and flax meal to the pan and fold with a rubber spatula until well combined. 
4. Transfer the mixture to the prepared pans and press down lightly with a rubber spatula to even out. Sprinkle the miniature chocolate chips over top, adding more or less to suit your taste, and press down firmly with the spatula so the chips stick.The mixture should be tightly compacted in the pan. Place the pan in the refrigerator for 1-1/2 - 2 hours to cool. 
5. Transfer the uncut bars to a cutting board. Using a sharp knife, cut into rectangles. Store the bars in an airtight container in the refrigerator. If you have to stack them, be sure to use parchment paper between the layers, otherwise they'll stick together and fall apart.
6. Note: If you are substituting dried fruit for the chocolate chips, mix it in along with the other ingredients as opposed to sprinkling over top.

  I have now blogged about these twice in less than a month.  They are really that good!