Granola Bars

When a store closes down it not only makes my town look more and more like a ghost village but it also entails me spending far too many hours and far too much money. I'm beyond geeked because, yes i blew part of my paycheck on it,  but I got some AMAZING books today. Knowing all of this you'd think I'd be jumping to bake something fabulous, well sadly my boring semi-busy little life ran me around today. That and my warm covers were far more inviting. I'm very excited to start baking though, the book by the amazing Julia Child is calling my name and certainly not helping me get away from the "Julie and Julia" label I've come to develop. Alas, it's a shadow I can't run from I suppose. Anyhoo...today. Despite my tired body yelling about setting another alarm I am going hiking tomorrow. I decided it would only be appropriate to bring along some granola bars. Of course, I've tweaked the recipe but the base comes from http://allrecipes.com//Recipe/playgroup-granola-bars/Detail.aspx.

Granola Bars:

1.) In a very large mixing bowl combine:

2 cups of old fashioned oats

1/2 cup of dark brown sugar

1/4 cup of light brown sugar

1/2 cup of wheat germ

1 TBS of cinnamon

1/2 cup of unbleached white flour

1/2 cup of whole wheat flour

1 tsp of nutmeg

3/4 tsp of salt

1/4 cup of cocoa powder

2.) Lightly beat 1 egg

3.) This is the messy/fun part....in the middle of the mixture add the egg, 1/4 cup of honey, 1/2 cup of oil, 1/2 cup of PB, 1/2 bag of chocolate chips. (I also added PB chips because I had some to use up).

4.) Mush all of this together with your very clean hands. 

5.) Wash those messy hands now.

6.) Lightly spray  a 9 x 13 pan .

7.) Spread the mixture into the pan and bake for about 25-30 minutes at 350 degrees. 

8.) Let cool for 5 minutes and then cut into bars. When completely cool, either store in the pan or remove to a container and seal tightly.

**You can replace part of the oil with applesauce to make these healthier. You can also change the mix ins. If you aren't in a chocolate mood then you can add nuts and dried fruit or whatever your heart desires.**