Recipes

I have been meaning to post the recipes for the "Apricot Poo Bars" and the Granola bars I made. Here they are

Apricot Snack Bars



1/2 cup cream honey (I used cinnamon flavored cream honey)
1/2 cup almond butter
1 1/2 tsp almond extract
Mix altogether in bowl with a spoon. Then stir in (you may have to use your hand)

1 cup chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup granola
1/2 cup chopped or sliced almonds
Mix all ingredients. Press into loaf pan and chill in the fridge.

I couldn't find cinnamon flavored creamed honey so I just used plain creamed honey (I didn't even know there was such a thing as creamed honey before this). And next time I make this recipe I would only put in 1/2 tsp of almond extract. 1 1/2 tsp was way too much for my taste.

And as I said before these were just to sticky for me to cut into bars so they got rolled into little logs instead. And they just looked very wrong like that but they were so good!

The blog I found the recipe on is wonderful and can be found here

Next is the recipe for The Worlds Best Granola Bars!



Homemade Granola Bars:
3 1/4 cups rolled Oats (or
combination of oats and other whole grains)
3/4 cups Whole Wheat flour (or all-purpose)
3/4 tsp. baking soda
1/2 T. Vanilla Extract
1/4 cup vegetable oil (I used canola)
1/2 cup honey, at least
1/2 tsp. cinnamon
1 1/2 cups "Stuff" (I used about a cup or so of chopped dried apricots and a 1/2 cup of chocolate chips)

Preheat oven to 325.
In a large mixing bowl combine oats, flour, baking soda, and any spices you want to use.
In a separate bowl, combine vanilla, oil, and honey.
Pour wet mix into dry and stir to combine.
Stir in the "stuff" you want to use.
Spray an edged cookie sheet or pan with cooking spray and press VERY firmly into cookie sheet. (I used a 7x11 pan that was perfect for this).
Bake at 325 for 18-20 minutes until top is turning golden brown.
Remove from oven and firmly press down bars again with a spatula or similar, and allow to cool for 10-15 minutes.
Cut into bars--they are hard to cut if you allow it to completely cool.
Allow to finish cooling completely before removing from pan.

Two notes:
1. Press the bars firmly down in the pan with the flat edge of a spatula before baking. Do this again after baking, and once more before you cut it. If they aren't packed down, they will crumble.
2. Regarding the honey, start with the 1/2 cup. If the mixture seems too crumbly, keep adding honey by the teaspoon. The amount needed seems to depend on the fillings. The chocolate chips melt a bit, which seems to require less honey, whereas the apple-cinnamon ones seemed to require more, based on the dryness of the cinnamon.

This recipe is going to be lots of fun to play with. Personally, I thought they were perfect with the dried apricots and chocolate chips but Trav requested dried cranberries and nuts so that will be my next attempt.

I also found this recipe on an amazing blog that can be found here

If anyone else knows of a great blog with good healthy kid friendly recipes please share.

-Jen-

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone