Smart Sweet: The Best Granola Bar in the World
Rating: 
(2 votes, average: 5.00 out of 5)
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Prep Time: 15 minutes
Cook Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
Total Time: 3 hours, 45 minutes
Yield: 8 - 10 granola bars (cooking times will vary)
I recently purchased a dehydrator because I fell in love with kale and zucchini chips (stay tuned for the zucchini recipe) and wanted to make them myself. But, if I was going to allow this behemoth (dehydrators are not small, people!) take up the valuable real estate of my NYC-sized counter top, then I needed to find more uses for it. Hello Granola Bars.
So this past weekend I put a new challenge to the test: create the best granola bar in the world. And it worked out pretty well… at least I thought so and so did my friends here at Team Reboot. Hopefully you will, too!
It only takes a few easy steps and a few ingredients, many of which you probably already have on hand. Best of all, it leaves out all of the processed junk that you find in many granola bars in the grocery store.
Ingredients:
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup unsweetened applesauce
2 Tbsp. natural peanut butter
2 Tbsp. maple syrup
2 Tbsp. honey
1 Tbsp. vanilla extract
1 Tbsp. cinnamon
1/3 cup chopped dried figs
1/3 cup chopped dates
1/3 cup chopped dried apricots
1/4 cup coconut flakes
1/4 cup slivered almonds
Directions:
1.) Combine oats with all wet ingredients and mix well.
2.) Add dried fruits, nuts and cinnamon, mix well.
3.) Form mixture into rectangle shape on dehydrator trays, or press into baking dish. (about 3/4 inch thick)
4.) Dehydrate for 3.5 hrs at 115 F/46 C. OR bake at 350 F/177 C for 18-20 minutes. OR simply place tray in freezer for at least one hour to solidify.
5.) Remove from tray and cut into bars.
Enjoy!
I cant wait to try these tomorrow. I do 5 days of juicing and 2 days of healthy eating (weekends) I was only eating fruits and veggies on weekends but I am going to integrate some oats (ie. oatmeal with fruit) an nuts this weekend. These look amazing. I don’t have a dehydrator (a friend of mine does though) so I am going to use freezer and have her do a batch in dehydrator. We were planning a dehydrating day and were going to try all the yummy recipes on here-Thank you so much for the recipe and stay tuned for results
Thanks Angelina! Hope you like them — let us know if freezing or dehydrating tastes better!
Okay so here are my findings: I was unable to meet up with my friend who has a dehydrator, and I was dying to try these. I also noticed there is an oven option as well. So- I made two batches, one for the freezer and one for the oven. I will also note that I had to spend about $40 for the ingredients, as none of them are anything I have “on-hand” (although I still have enough to make at least one if not two more batches). The mixture was easy enough to whip up, (although the dried fruits and dates were a PIA to cut due to their stickiness) and very easy to press into a baking dish. I made one batch for oven and one for freezer. So-the oven method didn’t seem to be working-the mixture was way too soft and wasnt forming. I decided to continue to cook it and keep checking it until it hardened a little. After almost an hour, I just took them out. They did harden a bit and got a nice golden color, but unfortunatley, they had no flavor whatsoever. I was surprised-but figured it had to be because I overcooked them. They have SO many flavorful ingredients, it had to be due to overcooking. Then I pulled the freezer batch out, which also did not form. At first they were frozen so they were able to be handled, but as soon as they defrosted, they just completely fall apart. They taste a little better, but still are bland. I am curious if the dehyrating does something to extract the flavor out of all the fruits or something. These have SO much to offer for flavor-but they just don’t have it. Now I have a TON of granola and I don’t know how to make it taste good
I wanted to add that I did not want to come off like a whinning brat that doesn’t like the recipe. It could very well be an error on my part! I so appreciate the sharing everyone does with their experimenting and perfecting recipes. I don’t know what I would do without it. SO-I live in southeast MA nad am snowed in with 3 feet of snow and there is not much to do but snack. Half a million people in MA don;t have power, and 84% of my town does not have power-I am SO lucky to. So- I ended up sprinking dark brown sugar on top of both batches and they are officially delicious. Of course they are much less healthy BUT-very yummy and very filling also.
I am thinking if you spent $40 on those ingredients you may be shopping at the wrong stores. Are you in a smaller town? I spent $12 dollars for the same ingredients and yielded 3 batches as well. Which make them a lot more cost effective.
I’m with you Angelina.. no store I know of has pure maple syrup less than $12 bottle and good vanilla is $8 and natural organic peanut butter is $4…. so I definitely see the $40
love my dehydrator. I make all kinds of jerky, kale chips, string beans, fruit leathers, apple and banana chips, etc. I have a similar recipe with more nuts and less grains but have always done it with the oven/freezer method. Will have to try using my dehydrator.
Just finished my first 20 day juice fast! Down 20 lbs. Made these to celebrate! Tasted delicious! Of course I have eaten anything in 20 days so keep that in mind if you don’t enjoy them. LOL I used dried cranberries and less cinnamon because that is what I had on hand. Also shared them with some friends and they all asked for the recipe!
Oh and I don’t have a dehydrator but used the oven! Worked great.
I would love to make these for my kids but my daughter is allergic to nuts. Any ideas on what to use in place of the peanut butter??
I made these yesterday – wonderful. I don’t have a dehydrator so I baked them in the oven per your instructions and they aren’t sticking together like a bar. Still taste good though. Any recommendations?
Have you ever tried sunflower butter? My kids’ school has ‘outlawed’ peanut butter due to children with allergies, but replaced it with sunflower butter. Not exactly the same, but tasty. Easy to find at most health food stores. It might work for this recipe.