Fruit & Nut Granola Bars, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars and Some GREAT Peanut Butter Brownies and COOKIES!

I've been meaning to get these posted.  Sigh.  Oh if I could post as often as I'd like.

Anyway, THESE are delicious.  You'll never need to buy store bought, partially hydrogenated oily, high fructose corn syrupy granola bars again.  I keep telling myself since these are so healthy that it's okay to keep eating them.  They are full of tons of fiber and fruit, so be careful eating too many. ; )

One thing I really like about these is that you can add whatever you want.  So I did.  I added tons of dried fruit, some nuts and cinnamon chips.  By the way, I found these over at Becky's blog, Satisfying My Sweet Tooth and she adapted a recipe from Ina Garten.  She baked hers 25 minutes until they were crisp, I only baked mine 20 minutes and they are a perfect chewy granola bar.  Here's the recipe as I adapted it, but the main ingredients are the same.

Fruit & Nut Granola Bars

2 cups old fashioned oats

1 cup shredded coconut (I used unsweetened, organic fine shredded coconut)

1/2 cup wheat bran

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup dried cranberries

2 dried peach halves, chopped

2 dried pineapple spears, chopped

1/2 cup cinnamon chips (sorry if you can't find them where you live!--if you want the cinnamon flavor to your bars and can't find these, just add 1/2 - 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon)

1/2 cup almond/pecans, mixed (roasted), chopped (It's just what I had, Becky's recipe says 1 cup raw almonds toasted with the oats and coconut)

1/4 cup pepitas/sunflower seeds, mixed (roasted)

Mix oats and coconut (and any raw nuts) together on a baking sheet that has raised sides and bake at 350 degrees for 12 minutes, stirring every three minutes.

Transfer mixture to a large bowl and add the wheat bran.

In a small saucepan (or  microwave safe bowl--that's what I did), melt the honey, butter and brown sugar together.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt.  Stir together and pour over the oat mixture.  Add dried fruit, nuts and cinnamon chips and mix well to combine.  Pour mixture into a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.  Press together evenly.  (I did not go clear out to the sides of the baking sheet--only made about a 9x13 rectangle in the middle.) 

Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes (20 minutes made perfect chewy bars, 25 makes crispy bars).  Cool slightly before cutting into bars.  (Or bread into odd sized pieces.)  Cool completely.

*Note, I think these had a little too much fruit, though I love it, it made them so that they were falling apart--that and maybe bake them just a little longer.  I will cut some of the fruit next time, maybe just dried cranberries one time and not raisins, etc.  A tropical theme with coconut, dried pineapple, mango, etc. would be good, too, even bananas.  Okay, that's all.  Try these!

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I liked the Fruit & Nut Granola Bars so much that I had to try peanut butter and chocolate.  These need a little tweaking, but are still GOOD!  I left out the coconut this time and since I did, I added extra oats and think I added a bit too much, they aren't dry, but have a bit too much oats and I like them chewy and baked these for the 25 minutes and will probably stick with 20 minutes next time.  Here's what I did.  Play around with it.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

2  1/2 cups old fashioned oats (I used 3 cups and think it was a bit much)

1/2 cup wheat bran

3 tablespoons unsalted butter

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Smuckers All Natural Chunky Peanut Butter and will probably use Skippy Natural next time as it was also a little dry)

1/4 cup brown sugar (I didn't write it down and can't remember if I omitted this--I will probably omit it if using Skippy, but it needs the extra sweetness if using all natural peanut butter)

2/3 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips

Spread oats on baking sheet with raised sides and bake in 300 degree oven for 12 minutes, stirring every three minutes.  Transfer the oats to a large bowl and add the wheat bran.   Stir together.

In small saucepan or microwave safe dish, melt butter, peanut butter, honey and brown sugar.  Remove from heat and add vanilla and salt.  Pour over oat mixture and stir to combine.  Let sit until cool (or refrigerate briefly) if you don't want the chocolate chips to melt.  (This is what I did.)  Add chocolate chips and stir to combine.  Spread evenly in a 9x13 parchment lined pan or a baking sheet.  Bake at 300 degrees for 20-25 minutes.  Cool slightly before cutting into bars.  Cool completely.

Play around with these bars, it's fun and they are yummy--and better for you!

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And  now that we've been talking healthy, get a look at these tasty brownies!!!

I found these yummy brownies at Betty Crocker, but didn't add a peanut butter frosting they suggested.  These are great without it, but if you like a frosted brownie, go check out the recipe on the Betty Crocker site.

Peanut Butter Marbled Brownies, adapted from Betty Crocker

For the peanut butter mixture:

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup peanut butter (I used Skippy Natural, smooth)

1/4 cup all purpose flour

2 large eggs

For the brownies:

1 box brownie mix (GASP!), 9x13 family size

1/4 cup canola oil

1/4 cup water

2 large eggs

1/2 cup peanut butter chips

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Line a 9x13 inch pan with nonstick foil, or spray lightly with cooking spray.  In mixing bowl, combine sugar, peanut butter, flour and eggs.  Mix on medium speed 2 minutes.  Set aside.

In medium sized bowl, stir together brownie mix, water, oil and eggs until well combined.  Spread evenly in baking pan.  Drop peanut butter mixture by tablespoonfuls onto brownie batter.  Sprinkle peanut butter chips around as well.  Swirl through batter with knife.

Bake for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.  Cool 10 minutes, remove from baking pan using edges of foil and cool completely on wire rack.  (You can use your own favorite brownie recipe, too, but sometimes, these mixes are great and quick and they taste good, too!)

Can you imagine a peanut butter frosting on these?  Well, yep, I'm sure it would be good and knock the decadence level up a notch or two for these, but they were great just like this!  (Gave most of them away for a birthday!)  And this.  The giant cookie is made using Lisa Michele's Levain Copycat recipe that I've been recently baking up like crazy and loving.  (Thanks, Lisa Michele!)  Whether any recipe will really be AS GOOD as being in NYC and having a fresh baked Levain Chocolate Chip Walnut Cookie, I don't know, but Lisa's recipe is a great chocolate chip cookie and it made some pretty amazing giant cookies that I baked in a pizza pan for 15 minutes.  I'll tell you about the chocolate cookies in another post.

Here's a picture of some 4 ounce Levain's I also made with this recipe.  Mmmmm, they're good!  (Just ask my dad and nieces--I made them three times while I was home in Idaho!)