Granola Bars – Wizard of Odd

These are the granola bars I make every 2 weeks. Please note that the measures are ALL by weight. I use this recipe with 3 modifications:

Use a ratio of ½ dried blueberries; ¼ dried cherries; ¼ white raisins.
Immediately before adding the hot liquid to the dry ingredients, I dust the mixture with one rounded teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
I use a GLASS 9” x 13” baking dish. Cooking time in a glass dish is *exactly* 23 minutes (yes – 25 minutes = too crunchy and anything shorter leaves them too chewy). To get the batch to release from the pan, initial cooling time should be no longer than 90 minutes.

They will release from the pan correctly after 90 minutes once the edges have “nudged” away from the sides of the baking dish using a dough scraper. Simply turn the baking dish over and the entire batch will drop onto the cutting surface. If you wait longer than 90 minutes, the butter lining of the baking dish (and the honey) will have had too much time to bond to the baking dish surface and will take a lot more work to release properly.

Once they have released from the pan onto a cutting board, do NOT attempt to cut them until they have completely cooled. Let them completely cool then prior to cutting them up. Use a very sharp cleaver (with a straight [non-serrated or offset] blade) cut the batch once they have completely cooled.

Do NOT make the mistake of packing the ingredients gingerly in the pan – you will end up with a big batch of broken granola. Once the mixture has been evenly distributed in the baking dish, I cover the surface with waxed paper. Then I use the flat surface of a spatula to quickly compress the ingredients tightly into the baking pan immediately before baking.

Granola Bars

Recipe courtesy Alton Brown, 2005

8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
3 ounces sliced almonds, approximately 1 cup
1 1/2 ounces wheat germ, approximately 1/2 cup
6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1-ounce unsalted butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried fruit, any combination of apricots, cherries or blueberries Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally. In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved. Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

Recipe Summary
Difficulty: Easy
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 40 minutes
Yield: 16 (2-inch) squares

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