Peanut Butter Granola Bar

I tried two different granola bars for this hiking weekend as I was in charge of the plans! Here’s the other one. This recipe was taken from here.

Ingredients:

• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• 2 1/4 cups oats
• 1 cup chopped pretzels
• 1/4 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Mix the butter, brown sugar, honey, peanut butter and vanilla in a  pot until it is smooth and consistent in color.

2) Mix the oats and pretzels in a large bowl.

3) Pour the peanut butter mixture over the oats and mix.

4) Pour into baking tins and top with chocolate chips.

5) Place in the fridge for a minimum of 2 hours.

Standard Granola Bars Take 2

I tried this recipe before, but here was a second take. When I tried before, I said I would try making them more non-toaster-oven-friendly. Well, I did it! All you have to do is add olive oil to the pan, add the oats and nuts and toss occasionally until they are toasted.

I also used maple syrup instead of honey and it came out fine.

I also used less chocolate (about 1/4 cup instead of 1 cup) and they were still great and held together fine.

Granola Bars

I’m into hiking (i.e.: all my hikes here) This past weekend I went on my longest hike (30 kilometers) and climbed the third highest mountain in Korea (Daechongbong Peak, 1,708 meters tall–some sites I’ve looked on say other mountains, but in the park it said it was the 3rd highest) and the highest mountain I’ve ever hiked.

I knew I needed to make some good sharing food–because that’s what hiking is all about in Korea: sharing your food–that was also energy food and brought PBJ, oranges, boiled eggs and these homemade granola bars. I kinda followed this recipe as an outline, but, even as they say, you can put anything you want into a granola bar!

I’m sure you can make these by toasting the oats in a pan, which is what I will try next time to make it more non-oven-house friendly!

The honey can be replaced with maple syrup to make them vegan as well.

Ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup chopped nuts: I used walnuts, almonds and cashews
• olive oil
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1 tsp Bacardi 151 (I’m out of vanilla, and you can replace it with dark rum, or other dark liquors and Bacardi 151 was the easiest to get and I love the flavor it adds)
• dash of salt
• 1/2 cup dried fruit: I used raisins, cranberries (chopped) and apricots (chopped)
• 3/4 cup-1 cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 350F/170C or toaster oven to 130C.

2) Mix the oats and nuts.

3) Place foil on the baking tray and rub olive oil on it (or spray if you can).

4) Add the oats and nuts and bake until starting to brown (I had to do this in two batches). Should take about 10 minutes and you should stir halfway though.

5) Pour into a bowl and allow to cool.

6) Add the honey, butter, light brown sugar, rum/vanilla and salt to a pot and cook on medium heat until the sugar and salt has dissolved. I brought mine to a boil to get a bit of the alcohol out.

7) Add the honey mixture to the oats and mix.

8) Allow to cool for about 5 minutes.

9) Add the dried fruit and chocolate chips and mix.

10) Press into baking tins and place int he refrigerator for 2-8 hours. I wrapped them in tin foil before heading out into the heat.

 

 

Lemon Apple Bars

Recipe taken from here, but halved and with extra lemon! It’s almost like a granola bar. I found the bottom a bit dry on it’s own, but when mixed with the rest it’s great.

Ingredients:

• 1 1/8 cups flour
• 1/6 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp cinnamon
• 1/3 cup + a bit of butter
• 1 TBSP cold water
• 2 apples, peeled and diced
• 2 TBSP sugar
• zest of 1 lemon
• juice of 1 lemon
• 1/6 cup raisins
• 1/6 cup dried cranberries
• 1/3 cup oats
• 1/3 cups walnuts, chopped

Directions:

1) Preheat the oven to 380F/180C or the toaster oven to 135C.

2) Mix the flour, brown sugar, butter, cinnamon and butter.

3) Slowly add the water until the mixture forms a dough that sticks together.

4) Press half into the bottom of a tin or baking tins and bake for 20 minutes. Place the rest of the dough in a plastic bag or cling wrap and freeze. After this I turned off the toaster oven not to waste electricity because the apples had to cool as well.

5) Add the apples, sugar, lemon zest and lemon juice into a pan over low heat until the sugar dissolves.

6) Increase the heat to medium and place a lid on the pot and cook for 10 minutes, keeping an eye on them because they could burn.

7) Allow to cool before mixing in the raisins and cranberries.

8) Add the raisins and cranberries. This was when I turned the toaster oven back on.

9) Place on top of the dough.

10) Grate the frozen dough and mix with the walnuts and oats.

11) Sprinkle on top of the apple mixture.

12) Bake for 30 minutes or until the top is golden.