Granola Bars

It is mid-afternoon here. The sun is golden and warm and streaming through my front windows with vibrance. It is quiet. Jack is asleep upstairs and Emma is asleep in her little bouncer in the kitchen. Dreams are flickering across their faces. 

Supper is in the oven and the house is picked up. A rarity these days. It's a moment of peace in the crazy busyness of life. I love these moments when life is calm. 

But it's not always that way. Sometimes there are train tracks all over my floor. And pacifiers tucked in nooks here and there. Sometimes (most of the time) there are dishes all over the counter and oats all over the floor. Sometimes a baby is crying in one room and the toddler is crying in the other. Sometimes these rooms smell of diapers or burnt granola bars. Sometimes there is no sun shining through my windows and it's raining. Not a nice spring rain, but a cold, dreary, unhappy sort of rain. 

But that's life right? A topsy-turvy mix-up of peace and chaos. Storm and serenity. A blog I read once said that "Life is a process of making messes and cleaning them up." And it's oh so true. Learning to smile amidst the mess and say, "Yes, Jack, let's make the granola bars, together."

Granola Bars

Makes about 36 bars

Total Time: 1 1/2 hours

7 cups old-fashioned oats

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups almonds, walnuts or pecans

3/4 cup honey

3/4 cup light brown sugar

1 T. vanilla

2 tsp cinnamon (optional)

Mix the oats and salt together in a large bowl.

Add the oil and toss until all the oats are coated.

Cover an 18 x 12 baking sheet with tin foil. 

Spread the oats out onto the baking sheet. 

And maybe sneak a few...

Bake for 30 minutes at 375 degrees.

Stir every 10 minutes during baking. 

While the oats are baking, put the nuts in a food processor or blender and blend briefly until nuts are roughly chopped. Remove 3/4 cup of the nuts to a small bowl. Then blend the rest of the nuts until finely ground. Set aside.

Also, while oats are baking, put the honey and brown sugar in a small saucepan. Heat until sugar is dissolved, about 5 minutes. Then add vanilla and cinnamon if you are using. 

When oats are done baking, dump them back into the large bowl and keep the tin foil on the baking sheet. Stir in the nuts (both roughly chopped and finely ground) and then pour in the honey mixture. 

Toss until oats are fully coated with the honey.

Dump oats back onto the foil-lined baking sheet.

And press oats firmly into the pan with the spatula. 

You want them to be quite compact or your granola bars will break apart. 

Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees and bake granola for 45 minutes. 

I may have forgotten this and burned a batch...oops.

Cool in the baking sheet for 10 minutes and then cut into 2 x 3 inch bars.

Don't wait until completely cool or it will be quite difficult to cut the bars.

Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

Recipe from Baking Illustrated.