Tuesday, January 13, 2015

Granola Energy Bars—Tuesdays With Dorie—Baking Chez Moi

Granola Energy Bars, gluten free, refined sugar free

It’s Tuesdays With Dorie time.  To start out the new year, we picked the Granola Energy Bars from Dorie’s Baking Chez Moi.  How fun for me to have a recipe that didn’t need altering.  I just used gluten free oats.  We could use any nuts and dried fruits we wanted and the granola bars were easy to make.

Dorie mentioned that these were best with brown rice syrup and I’ve been wanting to get some and try it so I bought some (and yay, it was on sale).  I did exactly as the recipe said, but only baked these for 20 minutes, not 25-30 and they were super crispy/hard. Bummer. So much that we had a hard time cutting them immediately.

Granola Energy Bars

Well, never fear—I decided to make them again.  This time, I changed up the nuts and fruit a bit (I went with sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, coconut and peanuts and just raisins.  But I decided to use raw honey and lower the temperature of the oven.  When I make granola, I bake it at 300 degrees F.  It was written in the recipe to bake these at 325 degrees F.  So I went with 300 degrees and I used raw honey instead of the brown rice syrup.  I baked the new batch for only 20 minutes as well.  They seemed a lot softer.  Enough that I was even worried they wouldn’t cut into bars.  But I waited as the recipe said—let them cool for 3 hours and while they hardened up nicely, they were much better, still a little more firm than I like a chewy granola bar to be, but I am going to love having them for snacks for the next week.  I wonder if it’s a high altitude thing?

Granola Energy Bars

I couldn’t help it—with the peanuts and raisins, I kept thinking about those candy bars called Chunky that have peanuts and raisins in them and I decided these granola bars needed to be dipped in chocolate.  LOVE!  I’m so smart. Just kidding.  Dorie mentioned in the recipe that you can add any and all kinds of nuts and fruit and chocolate if you want.  I never think of chocolate………….(right!?)  I used some 70% organic chocolate (3 ounces) melted with about 1/2 teaspoon of coconut oil. 

Chunky Peanut Raisin Granola Energy Bars

When I didn’t have enough chocolate left to keep dipping the bars, I drizzled the rest over the remaining bars.

Granola Energy Bars--TWD

Never fear—I did not and will not throw out the first bars that are so hard.  This morning, I put them in some almond milk on the stove and waited and watched and broke them up as they softened and turned them in to my morning oatmeal!  Good stuff!

17 comments:

Zosia said...

Chocolate-dipped or drizzled....both sound good to me! Great save with the first batch, converting into hot cereal.

Kayte said...

LOL...you know what I am going to say, right? I KNEW you would find a way to chocolate these up! :-) They do look very nice, my guys would be all over those in a second. It's fun this week seeing all the ingredients people chose and how they cut their bars, but I have to say, I think that drizzle bit sends yours into a whole other category! Gluten free oats...who knew?

Adriana said...

Oh, I LOVED Chunky bars as a kid. Thanks for bringing back the memories. I thought the bars were hard right after baking for the full time suggested in the recipe, but after a day of rest in a zip bag they were okay.

Margaret said...

Adding the granola to almond milk? Oooh, it must have been delicious! (Please tell me you added chocolate. Because chocolate.) And your bars looks sooo good!

Cakelaw said...

Yum - I am seriously coveting your chocolate dipped/drizzled bars. My bars were quite crisp, but I liked them.

Casa_DeArtes said...

Ha, you are so smart, Katrina! I've been following your blog for quite a while and you scored more points with me when you thought to dip those bars in chocolate! That's how I think everyday...great minds know ;)

kitchen flavours said...

Nobody would say no to chocolate dipped granola bars! They look yummy! And turning the hard ones into oatmeal is a brilliant idea!

Leah said...

Your bars look really beautiful! Love the chocolate two ways!

Diane Zwang said...

Great idea with the chocolate. These would make a good cereal, kudos to you for the save.

caramelizelife.com said...

I agree with you chocolate is a must! Your bars look fantastic.

Kathy said...

I love that you added chocolate to your bars, yum! They look fabulous! I fed my first batch to the birds and squirrels and they were quite happy with them! Next time Chocolate!!

amy said...

I love that you dipped these in chocolate and drizzled the chocolate on top. I will definitely try that next time!

Valerie said...

These look so good. I would definitely prefer a chocolate dipped kind over plain. :)

jane of many trades said...

I recently came across Chunky bars in a Cracker Barrel! They were always a favorite as a kid. The bars were a little too hard for me and my dental work, I will experiment with not boiling the syrup next time.

Anonymous said...

Brilliant! Dipping in chocolate and saving the crunchy batch!

Cathleen | My Culinary Mission said...

Love the look of the dipped bars! I have made these twice myself. First using Lyle's Golden syrup and butter, then again with the rice syrup and coconut oil. The rice syrup bars turned out drier and firmer. I preferred the Lyle's bar, much softer and sweeter.

Liz That Skinny Chick Can Bake said...

Oh, I'm SO glad to know you're back with TwD!!! It will be fun to have an excuse to visit your blog more often. xo