Dried Fruit Granola Bars Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Lightly coat a 13x9" pan with nonstick spray and line with parchment paper, leaving an overhang on both long sides; spray parchment.
• Pulse 3/4 cup fruit and 1/2 cup hot water in a food processor until smooth and incorporated, 3-4 minutes. Add honey, almond butter, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla and pulse until combined, about 15 seconds. Add 1/2 cup oats and pulse until well combined, 30-45 seconds. Add pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, coconut, and remaining 1 cup oats and 1/2 cup fruit. Pulse until just combined, about 15 seconds.
• Transfer mixture to prepared pan, pressing down until completely even. Bake granola until darkened, firm around the edges, and the center gives just slightly when pressed, about 35 minutes. Transfer pan to a wire rack and let cool in pan. Remove granola using parchment overhang, then cut into 20 bars with a serrated knife.
• Do Ahead
• Granola can be made 5 days ahead. Keep tightly wrapped at room temperature.

Steps:

• Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
• Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Toast nuts pumpkin seeds on a rimmed baking sheet until golden brown or slightly darkened in color, 10-12 minutes. Transfer to a food processor and let sit until cool enough to handle.
• Reduce oven temperature to 300°F. Lightly oil 13x9" pan and line with parchment paper, leaving overhang on both long sides. Lightly oil parchment.
• Add 1 cup oats to nut mixture in food processor and pulse until nuts are a sandy consistency and no whole oats remain. Transfer to a large bowl.
• Pulse any dried fruit larger than a raisin in food processor (no need to wipe out) until about the size of chocolate chips. Transfer to bowl with nut mixture. Add remaining 1 cup oats and stir to combine, breaking up any fruit that is stuck together. Add remaining 3 Tbsp. oil and stir to coat. Add peanut butter, but don't stir it in; set aside.
• Bring honey, salt, and vanilla to a boil in a medium saucepan over medium heat (it will bubble up). Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until it is foaming vigorously and smells like caramel, about 3 minutes.
• Immediately pour honey mixture over peanut butter in reserved bowl (it will melt the peanut butter). Stir to combine, making sure to aggressively break up any clumps.
• Using a fork or small whisk, lightly beat egg white in a small bowl to thin out. Add to oat mixture and mix until egg white is no longer visible.
• Scrape oat mixture into prepared pan and press firmly into an even layer. (Be sure to really compact the mixture into the pan-it helps to use the bottom of a heavy glass or metal measuring cup.)
• Bake granola bars until deep golden brown and no longer sticky or wet, 30-35 minutes. Let cool 5 minutes, then lightly score into 16 long rectangles (1 cut lengthwise and 7 cuts crosswise will make bars that are about 6½x1"). Let cool completely in pan, then use parchment to hoist bars out onto a cutting board. Using a sharp chef's knife, cut along marks to separate bars.
• Do Ahead: Bars can be made 1 week ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
• Grease an 8x8 glass pan.
• Place nuts and oats on a baking sheet, and bake for about 12 minutes or until lightly toasted.
• While oats and nuts are toasting, place in a saucepan over medium heat the honey, brown sugar, butter, vanilla, cinnamon and salt.
• Stir until the mixture bubbles, and keep it boiling and stirring for about 2 minutes.
• When oats and nuts come out of the oven, turn it down to 325.
• Take the pan off the heat, and when the oats are finished, pour them right into the saucepan and mix to combine honey mixture evenly.
• Stir in the chopped dried fruit.
• Press mixture into the glass pan with the back of a spoon - it will be pretty sticky.
• Bake at 325 for 20 minutes, and let cool completely before cutting.
• Wrapped in saran wrap, these will keep for at least a couple of weeks!

Steps:

• In a large bowl, combine oats, sugar, oat flour, salt and cinnamon; mix well. Stir in apricots, cherries, coconut, pecans and sunflower kernels; set aside., In another bowl, whisk together honey, butter, corn syrup, vanilla and water. Add the honey mixture to the fruit mixture; mix until crumbly. Pat into a lightly greased 13-in. x 9-in. baking pan. Bake at 350° for 25-30 minutes or until golden brown on the edges. Cool in pan for 5 minutes., While still warm, cut into bars. Remove bars to a wire rack to cook completely. Wrap bars individually in plastic wrap or store in an airtight container with parchment paper separating layers.

Steps:

• Ingredient note: look in your health food aisle for a healthy alternative to Rice Krispies. The brand I found is made by Enviro-Kidz and uses BROWN rice.
• Prepare 9x13 pan with non-stick spray (or line with parchment paper).
• In a large mixing bowl, toss all dry ingredients. Feel free to substitute your preferred nut or dried fruit.
• In a saucepan, combine brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and allow to boil one minute. (Note: boiling the sugars is what helps the bars become firm and not sticky, so this step is important).
• After boiling, turn off heat; add vanilla and peanut butter. QUICKLY pour this hot mixture over the dry ingredients and toss to combine.
• Pour warm mixture into prepared pan. Wet your fingers and press the mixture down into the pan to compress the bars so they will slice evenly.
• When cool, use a sharp knife to cut into 18 bars (1 long lengthwise cut and 9 cuts across). Enjoy with a hot cup of Starbucks coffee for an authentic experience!
• Note: Starbucks does not list corn syrup in their ingredients, but the sweetener in their list is not readily available. I tried using Maple Syrup, but the bars were very crumbly and would not stay together in bars. Therefore, I found that Corn Syrup is the best ingredient that is readily available.