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Chewy Granola Bars Recipe
Who doesn’t love chewy granola bars? They are the perfect anytime snack. Great for breakfast on the go, elevensies, an afternoon snack or supper. In fact anywhere, anytime you feel hungry.
Usually they are packed with nuts and raisins which are a great source of energy as well as being healthy. Whilst I buy granola bars quite often I have never tried making them. I am not sure why, by making your own you can control what goes into them and know exactly how much sugar is being added.
You can vary the flavour to suit yourself, if you love cranberries add more. A nut lover add twice as many nuts. You get the idea. Once you have the basic recipe you can play around until you get the perfect combination to suit you. They will keep for a while in a tin, if you can resist eating them.
Recently I was sent some of the new Ancient Legends cereal from Kellogg’s to try. This is a new range of granolas, mueslis and cereals that contain grains that were used in the past. Ancient civilisations used to save their finest grains and seeds for their elite warriors, to keep them at full strength. These grains are packed with vitamins and minerals. Some of the grains in these cereals are spelt, which was grown to feed the armies of the Roman empire, quinoa which was a staple of the Incas and rye which was one of the main crops grown by the Vikings. There are six varieties, RRP £2.99. As well as being very tasty I thought they would be perfect for making chewy granola bars.
The six varieties are:
Ancient Legends Museli
- Puffed spelt, pumpkin & sunflower seeds, sultana and flax seeds
- Quinoa, apple, cranberry and chia seeds.
Ancient Legends Granlola
- Spelt, Cranberry, Sultana & flax seeds
- Rye, chia seeds, sultana & pumpkin seeds
Ancient Legends Cereal
- Rye, cranberry, almond & flax seeds
- Spelt, apple, sultana & chia seeds
To make my granola bars I decided to use the Ancient Legends cereal, rye, cranberry, almond & flax seeds.
Chewy Granola Bars
Along with the cereal which I crushed I also added some oats, raisins and chocolate chips to the mixture. This was all thrown into a bowl. To bind the mixture together I used a mix of melted butter, brown sugar, honey and vanilla essence. This was poured onto the dry ingredients and mixed together. I then pressed the mixture down into a baking tray lined with baking parchment and left it in the fridge to cool. The secret to making the bars bind together is to press them into the tin well. Don’t be scared to push hard, you want bars that don’t crumble when you lift them out of the tin. After a couple of hours you can cut the bars into squares and store in a tin. Don’t be surprised to find the tin empty if you leave it unguarded, especially if you have teenagers in the house. These bars are very tasty.
Chewy Granola Bars Recipe
Chewy Granola Bars
Ingredients
- 350 g Ancient Legends Cereal
- 100 g oats
- 50 g sultanas
- 50 g butter
- 120 g honey
- 50 g brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla essence
- 50 g chocolate chips
Instructions
- Mix all the cereal, oats and sultanas in a bowl, crushing the cereal if required.
- In a pan combine the butter, honey, sugar and vanilla essence
- Cook until the butter melts and the sugar dissolves
- Pour over the dry mixture and stir until it binds together.
- Add half the chocolate chips, keeping some to add to the top of the bars
- Press the mixture into a square baking tray lined with baking parchment
- Sprinkle the rest of the chocolate chips on top
- Leave to cool in the fridge for two hours
- Cut into squares
You could also use the Ancient Legends cereal to make these Melon Breakfast Sundaes which are light and delicious.
I was sent some samples of the cereal to try. I was not obliged to say anything nice.
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Galina V says
Those new cereals sound nice, haven’t seen them yet. And I also love very nutty granola bars, and have never made my own. Must try your lovely recipe.
Dragons and Fairy Dust says
Do let me know if you do. You can add fruit nuts or whatever you want really. The cereals are perfect for them
Alida @My Little Italian Kitchen says
Love these granola bars. I often have granola in the morning and I add it to my yogurt. A good start of the day!
Dragons and Fairy Dust says
I love granola as well, it is so tasty on its own.
Katie says
These look lovely. Thanks for sharing xx
Dragons and Fairy Dust says
Thank you, they were 🙂
Dannii @ Hungry Healthy Happy says
It’s amazing how much bars like this cost to buy in store, but how easy they are to make yourself!
Dragons and Fairy Dust says
They are so easy to make, will have to make them more often
Mel says
I absolutely love granola bars! Yours sound delicious and I would have them with more chocolate or nuts and no raisins 🙂
Dragons and Fairy Dust says
The beauty is you can add whatever you want and make them suit your taste
Honest Mum says
They look delicious! Want them all NOW! Thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays