{"id":8679,"date":"2014-09-05T07:56:26","date_gmt":"2014-09-05T12:56:26","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/?p=8679"},"modified":"2014-09-05T07:56:26","modified_gmt":"2014-09-05T12:56:26","slug":"the-best-crunchy-granola-bars","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/2014\/the-best-crunchy-granola-bars\/","title":{"rendered":"The best crunchy granola bars"},"content":{"rendered":"

May I share with you the best crunchy granola bar recipe ever?<\/p>\n

I love making homemade granola bars. They straddle the line between dessert and breakfast artfully — a glorious marriage of healthy oats and nuts with the sure-fire deliciousness of fat and sugar.<\/p>\n

\"Granola<\/a><\/p>\n

_Pretty awesome granola bars._<\/p>\n

I have a few granola bar recipes that I pull out every so often (like this “excellent chewy version”:http:\/\/thewell.intervarsity.org\/blog\/recipe-chewy-granola-bars ), but this summer I became dissatisfied with the way most homemade granola bars inevitably fall apart. Isn’t there a better way? <\/p>\n

Questions like this are always handled best by our favorite scientists: the folks at “America’s Test Kitchen”:http:\/\/www.americastestkitchen.com. I had glanced at their recipe for crunchy granola bars in “_Baking Illustrated_”:http:\/\/americastestkitchen.buysub.com\/cook-s-illustrated-cookbooks\/baking-illustrated-bks.html previously, but rejected it due to fussiness. _I don’t really need to toast the oats separately, do I? And this business of chopping the nuts into two different sizes — that seems like a lot of work for just a basic granola bar. Is it really worth it?_ It turns out, the answer is: yes. It is totally worth these ridiculous steps if you want to eat a deliciously awesome, perfectly-textured homemade granola bar that doesn’t fall apart. <\/p>\n

The authors say that you can add other spices or even some dried fruit (they recommend cranberries or cherries, plumped in warm juice and then chopped), but I have enjoyed the simplicity of just the oats and nuts (although I do like the addition of cinnamon). I experimented with substituting maple syrup for the honey and got a wonderfully flavorful pile of granola that sometimes acquiesced into a bar shape. I might make that granola again for the flavor, but for making the bars, stick with the honey.<\/p>\n

Happy baking!<\/p>\n

\"Maple<\/a><\/p>\n

_Substituting maple syrup for the honey yields a delicious (but very crumbly) concoction._<\/p>\n

h3. Crunchy Granola Bars<\/p>\n

adapted from _Baking Illustrated_<\/p>\n

7 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
\n½ cup coconut oil (or another vegetable oil)
\n1½ teaspoon salt (or perhaps a bit less if you’re not as into the salty-sweet thing as I am)
\n2 cups sweetened coconut
\n1½ cups whole pecans (they say that almonds or walnuts will work well too)
\n¾ cup honey
\n¾ cup packed brown sugar
\n1 tablespoon vanilla extract
\n2 teaspoons cinnamon (optional)<\/p>\n

*Directions*<\/p>\n

Butter an 18 x 12-inch rimmed baking sheet (I use a roasting pan) and line with parchment paper. Toast the oats, oil, and salt at 375\u00b0 for 20 min, stirring twice. Add the coconut and toast for 10-15 more minutes, stirring once or twice.<\/p>\n

In the meantime, chop nuts in the food processor, first coarsely (10 one-second pulses). Remove half of the pecans, then chop the rest of them fine (20-30 seconds). (This seems like a high-maintenance step, but it’s worth it. The tiny pecan pieces serve as some of the flavorful glue between all the oats and the big pecan pieces add texture.)<\/p>\n

Combine honey and brown sugar in saucepan and cook over medium heat until dissolved. Off heat and stir in vanilla (and optional cinnamon).<\/p>\n

Combine oats, nuts, and honey mixture in large bowl. Press very firmly into lined roasting pan. (I press it in with the bottom of a juice glass, dipping the glass in water periodically to prevent sticking.) Bake at 300\u00b0 45-50 minutes. Cool, in the pan, for 10 minutes. Then lift out by the parchment sheet onto a cutting board and slice 6 x 8 while still warm. (Lifting it out is sometimes a little tricky, and I have cracked it along the way, but don’t fear — slice it as usual, and it will re-adhere along the cracks as it cools.)<\/p>\n

Let cool completely. Store in an airtight container. (I’ve successfully stored them for up to two weeks with only a slight loss in texture.)<\/p>\n

Serving Size: Makes 48 squares.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

May I share with you the best crunchy granola bar recipe ever?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":8687,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-recipes"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8679"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8697,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8679\/revisions\/8697"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8687"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8679"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8679"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/boydsnest.org\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8679"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}