Ellie’s Walnut + Dried Cherry Bars

I’ve been dying to try my own homemade granola bars since seeing a recipe in my Rachael Ray mag a couple years ago. I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to actually make a batch, but I’m happy I finally did. I found my RR magazine, but when I saw it called for already-made granola, I decided to make the Ellie Krieger granola bars I noted to make a few weeks ago since they used oats and other base ingredients.

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Whisked dry ingredients.

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Whisked wet ingredients.

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Mix-ins – pre-stirring. I subbed cranberries for cherries and added some flax seed.

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Pre-baking. Make sure you spread really flat because it won’t settle (like brownies do) during the baking.

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Post-baking. I topped my bars with seedless strawberry jam that I micowaved in a mug instead of heating stove-top.

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After waiting a looong hour, I was ready to grab a bar. The recipe said to “let cool completely”, but when I checked, the bars were still warm! I wasn’t willing to wait, so I just cut them up anyways.

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They were darn tasty a little warm!

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I was originally going to skip the jam-topping, but I’m glad I didn’t. It seems to add to the overall flavor quite nicely. The bars were more cake-y tasting than I expected, but they were delicious nonetheless. I also realized after the fact that I forgot to chop the cranberries, but the bars tasted ok as is. I think chopping the cranberries would distribute the flavors more evenly, so I’ll chop them up next time since I’m big on trying to get a taste of each flavor in each bite.

I’d really like to try making some more granola bars and maybe even some granola some time soon. Does anyone have any recipe suggestions?

Ellie’s Dried Cranberry + Walnut Bars
Adapted from Ellie Krieger’s recipe

Ingredients

  * 1 cup 1-minute quick-cooking oats

   * 3/4 cup whole-wheat flour

   * 1/4 cup toasted wheat germ

   * 1/4 teaspoon salt

   * 1/2 cup honey

   * 1/3 cup unsweetened applesauce

   * 1/4 cup canola oil

   * 1 egg, beaten to mix

   * 1 egg white

  * 3/4 cup chopped dried cranberries

   * 1/2 cup finely chopped walnuts

  * 2 tbsp flax seed

   * Cooking spray

  * 1/4 cup seedless strawberry jam/jelly

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. In a medium bowl, whisk together the oats, flour, wheat germ, and salt.

In a medium-large bowl, whisk together the honey, applesauce, oil, egg and egg white until well combined. Stir in the oatmeal mixture until well combined. Add the dried cranberries, flax seed, and walnuts.

Coat an 8-inch square baking pan with cooking spray. Spread the mixture (as flat as possible) into the prepared pan and bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, 30 to 35 minutes. As soon as the bars come out of the oven, put the jam/jelly in a mug in the microwave and heat till melted (about 30 seconds). Brush with the bars with the melted jam/jelly. Cool completely and cut into 12 bars, about 4 by1 1/2 inches each.

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