Homemade granola bars

I started making these granola bars a few months ago and they are so good! It is one of those great recipes where you don't have to be exact with your measurements, you can add whatever you have in your pantry that day, and they're super healthy.

These are a few of the ingredients that I used in my latest batch.

Here is the recipe:

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour

1 1/2 cups (healthy!) cereal

1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

3 beaten eggs

1 cup applesauce

3/4 cup honey

9 Tbs brown sugar

3-5 Tbs oil (the less oil, the dryer your bars will be)

1 1/2 cups mixed nuts (almonds, walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, etc.)

20 oz chopped dried mixed fruit (apricots, cranberries, raisins, etc.)

I like to add about 1/2 - 1 cup of toasted wheat germ to this also. Remember, nothing has to be exact so just use whatever you have and play around with the ingredients! 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Lightly oil a sheet (jelly roll) pan or line it with parchment paper. 

In a large bowl, stir together oats, flour, cereal, and cinnamon. Add the egg, applesauce, honey, brown sugar, and oil. Mix well. Stir in the nuts and dried fruit. Spread mixture evenly in the prepared pan and press down.

  

Bake 30 minutes. Let cool and cut into bars. Store in the refrigerator.

This recipe is actually tripled from the original recipe so it makes quite a few bars which last us all week. If you want to make less, use only 1/3 of all the ingredients and use a 9 inch square baking pan.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!