Homemade Granola Bars

After baking up some mini chocolate chip cookies for my friend's bachelorette party, I realized that its been a long time since I've baked anything in my kitchen.  After I finally recuperated from the bachelorette party and the Super Bowl this weekend, I decided to get back into the kitchen on Monday night and do some more baking but decided to make something a little healthier.  I've recently seen a variety of different recipes for homemade granola bars and I decided to give it a try myself. 

I finally settled on trying this recipe, which I of course slightly modified to make my own.

First, I pre-heated the oven to 350 degrees.

In a large bowl, I combined all of the dry ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• A generous 1/2 cup coconut flakes
• 3/4 teaspoons salt

I then added the liquid ingredients:

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup agave nectar
• 1 egg (beaten)
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

Once all of the dry ingredients were moistened, I spooned the granola mixture into a small brownie pan that was lined with parchment paper.

I baked the granola bars in the oven for twenty minutes.  I took the pan out of the oven when the edges started to brown.  I let the granola cool in the pan for about twenty minutes before cutting it into squares.  The granola seemed a little crumbly so I put it in the fridge to harden and this trick worked perfectly!

I made granola squares instead of granola bars since they were pretty thick.  The homemade granola squares made a perfect bite for breakfast....and for a snack when I was hungry!

Tell me, what have you baked in your kitchen lately?