Homemade granola bars

[infomama]

These looked so good (and easy) I had to share....http://smittenkitchen.com/2009/09/gr...ars/#more-4910

[happymom]

Those look good! I have to try them. And there's no oil or fat of any kind. Cool! Thanks for posting.

[jerigirl]

Yummy! TFS! I will definitely have to try these.

[danagee]

Thank you! DH and I keep saying we need a good recipe for these things - we're tired of paying for them!

[kristenk]

Thanks for sharing the recipe. I made some over the weekend. Sadly, my version didn't turn out so well. First, I guess I didn't press as much as I should have. I pressed, pressed, pressed, but it was not enough. I'll try to flatten them more next time. When I took them out of the pan and cut them, they started falling apart. No problem. I took the ones that crumbled out of bar form and just completely crumbled them up.

I still had a decent number of bars, though. DD tried one and didn't like the fruit. I tried one yesterday and discovered that my lid/container combo was not air tight, so the bar was not so crunchy. Sigh.

Think I need to try again!

[Piglet]

Oh no I bought all the ingredients and was going to try to make them tonight... they look SO good!

[kristenk]

Oh no I bought all the ingredients and was going to try to make them tonight... they look SO good!

Oh, I really think it was more cook error on my part. But make sure that you really PRESS down as hard as you possible can to smush it all together!

[MontrealMum]

Thanks, OP! Those look really good. I'm going to try making them tonight!

[infomama]

I'm going to make these Friday...I'll let you know how mine turn out.

[Piglet]

I made them last night - they are super yummy! The way I got them "pressed" into the pan was by using 2 9x13 pans and using 1 pan to press the other one down. I put parchment paper in 1 pan then put the granola micture onto the parchment then I ran a 2nd tray under water (though Pam would work well) and then pressed down on the 1st tray as hard as possible. The catch is that when you make them they are either super crumbly or pretty solid - they crumble easily if they are not pressed together well. The key to getting them less crumbly is to make sure the dried fruit is really small pieces or when you go to cut it the fruit will come out. Also, follow the instructions and let them cool for 2-3 hours before cutting. I put them in the freezer when they were cut and they are pretty good right out of the freezer.