Better Than Granola Bars

It was over a year ago when a friend (Sarah) made a delectable dessert for me during one of our bi-weekly potluck dinners. I asked for the recipe and Sarah almost immediately emailed me the link to the blog where she found the recipe...365+ days later I finally visited the site and made the recipe. The original recipe is actually a "baked oatmeal snack bar", which Sarah turned into a dessert by adding chocolate chips and a bit of sugar. The original bars are not quite a bowl of oatmeal and not quite a granola bar. But OH.MY.GOODNESS are they fantastic! 

Screw the insanely expensive granola bars you buy at the store, which are made with all sorts of "-ose" ending ingredients (fructose, dextrose, sucralose, glucose...all synonyms for sugar) and sometimes partially hydrogenated oils (recall: Quaker Oats Chewy Bars).  These "Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars" are simple, sweet, and super easy to make, without all the additives. 

I wish I could take credit for these brilliant bars. But alas, the author of the blog "Kath Eats Real Food" is the true genius. Her original post is a base recipe--flexible and easily adapted to whatever is in your home pantry. Below is the ingredient combo that I chose to make. Admittedly I did add a teeny bit of sugar to sweeten things up (even though the original recipe does not call for sugar); but 2 tablespoons for 9 bars is hardly a crime.

My ingredient combo for Kath's Baked Oatmeal Snack Bars : 

Dry

-1 1/2 cups old-fashion rolled oats

-1/2 cup chopped walnuts

-1/2 cup dried cranberries

-1/4 pumpkin seeds

-1 teaspoon cinnamon

-1 teaspoon salt

Wet

-1 1/4 cups skim milk

-1 egg

-1 teaspoon vanilla extract

-2 tablespoons agave nectar

Directions:
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit
2. Mix dry ingredients
3. Mix wet ingredients
4. Combine wet into dry ingredients
5. Pour mix into an oiled 8x8 or 9x9 pan
6. Bake for 40 minutes
7. Cut into 9 squares
8. ENJOY!

Individually wrap the bars for a grab-n-go snack!

Warning: You may become addicted to making these bars, just as I have. Since making the first batch (on Monday) I have made two additional batches of oatmeal bars. The second was like Sarah's--a dessert bar--with chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, shredded coconut, dried cranberries, and sunflower seeds. The third batch was a regular snack bar, with golden raisins, almonds, sunflower seeds, shredded coconut, and no additional sugar. Trust me, these are WAY better than granola bars.