Chewy Homemade Granola Bars

A friend of mine just had a beautiful, amazing, gorgeous baby boy. We got to meet him today and hold all 9 pounds of him. I'm used to swinging around all 26 pounds of my not-so-little boy and 9 pounds feels like holding a box of tissues! Tiny babies are amazing. Anyway - I took the mama these dense, chewy, peanut buttery, chocolaty granola bars so she has something to eat while wandering the house in the wee hours holding that beautiful, amazing, gorgeous, AWAKE baby! New mamas and papas NEED energy food.

Chewy Granola Bars - slightly adapted from Frugal NW

Makes 24 bars, or you know, one serving.

Preheat the oven to 350

4 1/2 cups rolled oats

3/4 cup whole wheat flour (regular flour would be fine)

1/4 cup packed brown sugar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup softened butter

3/4 cup peanut butter

1/3 cup corn syrup (rice syrup or maple would work too)

1/4 cup honey

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups chocolate chips

1/4 cup chopped dried cherries

To begin, grease the bottom of a 9x13 baking dish. Then lay a layer of parchment paper in the bottom so the edges hang out. Grease the parchment paper. You're going to pull the bars out of the dish using these flaps so make sure you have enough to grab.

In a large bowl, mix together oats, flour, baking soda and salt. In another bowl, mix together softened butter, peanut butter, corn syrup, honey and vanilla.

Mix wet ingredients into dry and then fold in cherries and chocolate chips. Put all of the granola into the baking dish and with damp hands, pack it down as firmly as possible. (You can also spray your hands with baking spray to help keep them from sticking to the gooey ingredients.)

Bake 25 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let the granola bars cool completely before trying to cut them. As with brownies, I think it would be a good idea to refrigerate these before cutting to get a nice, clean edge. 

As you can see, I rushed things a bit and didn't let these cool enough before I cut them. Boooo!! 

A few things about this recipe...

I think shredded coconut would be a wonderful addition. 

I didn't have a lot of dried cherries on hand, I think I'd up the cherries and drop the chocolate ratio a bit. (What did that say?? Drop the chocolate??)

Apricots and white chocolate would be amazing substitutes!!

Enjoy!

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