Eve and I made some delicious granola bars this afternoon from Smitten Kitchen, a blog Rosy sent me. You can pretty much add any “dry” stuff you want (dried fruits, nuts, etc.) and choose your “wet” ingredients (honey, syrup, etc.) I’ve tried several other granola bar recipes in the past and none came out quite right. A trick I learned here though, that I didn’t know before, is that if the granola bars are crumbly when you try to cut the, stick them in the fridge for awhile to let the “glue” harden. I have been trying to bake bars longer and longer to get them to harden. Oops. We cut these pretty quickly (we have no patience for baked goods around here!) and they crumbled a bit, so I put the rest in the fridge and finished cutting them later. Perfect! And oh-so-yummy!

Read the Smitten Kitchen post for the whole details, but here is the basic recipe:

Granola Bars

• 1 2/3 cups quick rolled oats
• 1/2 to 3/4 cup granulated sugar (I used 2/3c.)
• 1/3 cup oat flour (I don’t have oat flour so I used whole wheat flour)
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 to 3 cups fruits and nuts (I raided the cabinet and found 1c. dried cranberries, 1/4c sesame seeds, 1/4c crushed hazelnuts, 1/2c cinnamon bits and 2/3c. shredded coconut)
• 1/3 cup peanut butter or another nut butter (I used sunflower seed butter) (optional)
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 6 tablespoons melted butter
• 1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or corn syrup (I used maple syrup)
• 2 tablespoons light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon water

Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8? x 8? x 2? pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan, or coat with a non-stick spray.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter or oil, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.

Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up.)

Once cool, a serrated knife (or bench knife) to cut the bars into squares. [Updating to note, as many had crumbling issues:] If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.

On Eve’s request, we had pumpkin waffles for dinner last night. They were super yummy! When we first made waffles (after hubby got me a waffle iron for Christmas!) Lex ate too much and got a stomachache. He hasn’t tried them since. Silly boy. Last night I got him to try the “special orange waffles” without syrup. He liked them, but then asked for syrup. I was careful to give him only small amounts (of syrup and waffles!) to avoid stomachaches. He seemed pretty happy. Eve and I, of course, ate them all up. I got the recipe from weelicious, a cool blog with healthy food ideas. She suggested making cream cheese sandwiches with them. That may be lunch in the near future!

Weelicious Pumpkin Waffles

2 1/2 Cups Flour
1/3 Cup Light Brown Sugar
2 1/2 Tsp Baking Powder
1 Tsp Baking Soda
1/2 Tsp Salt
2 Tsp Ground Cinnamon
1 Tsp Ground Ginger
4 Eggs
1 Cup Milk (I used rice milk)
1 Cup Buttermilk (I used low fat)
1 Cup Pumpkin Puree
6 Tbsp Butter, melted

1. Preheat waffle iron.
2. Sift first 7 ingredients into a bowl.
3. In a separate bowl whisk the remaining ingredients.
4. Whisk the dry ingredients into the liquid mixture and whisk until smooth.
5. Pour about 1/2 cup of the pumpkin batter into a waffle iron that’s been buttered or greased and cook according to manufacturer’s directions.
6. Serve with maple syrup or make into sandwiches filling with cream cheese and whatever other fillings you desire.

If anyone is looking for a pancake recipe (a fantastic pancake recipe!!!) this is for you. We like pancakes around here and I’ve tried many, many recipes. I made these for breakfast the other day and EVERYONE was in heaven. I made a double batch and froze them. We had pancakes for breakfast yesterday and today, and for dinner tonight. Alan said they were the best he’s ever had. I did half plain and half with blueberries and the general consensus is that blueberries are yummy, but the plain ones are just perfect. Simply perfect!

Simply Perfect Pancakes from King Arthur Flour (who else?!?)
Ingredients
* 2 large eggs
* 1 1/4 cups milk
* 3 tablespoons melted butter or vegetable oil
* 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour
* 3/4 teaspoon salt
* 2 teaspoons baking powder
* 2 tablespoons sugar OR 1/4 cup malted milk powder (I used sugar)

Directions
1. Beat the eggs and milk until light and foamy, about 3 minutes at high speed of a stand or hand mixer. Stir in the butter or vegetable oil. (I was too lazy to get out the stand mixer, so I just used a whisk for a minute or so.)

2. Whisk the dry ingredients together to evenly distribute the salt, baking powder and sweetener.

3. Gently and quickly mix into the egg and milk mixture. Let the batter rest for at least 15 minutes, while the griddle is heating; it”ll thicken slightly.

4. Heat a heavy frying pan over medium heat, or set an electric griddle to 350°F. Lightly grease frying pan or griddle. The pan or griddle is ready if a drop of water will skitter across the surface, evaporating immediately.

5. Drop 1/3 cupfuls of batter onto the lightly greased griddle. Bake on one side until bubbles begin to form and break, then turn the pancakes and cook the other side till brown. Turn over only once. Serve immediately.

Check out the King Arthur Flour recipe page for photos and tips including a cool one (that I’m trying next time) about how to make blueberry pancakes.

PS. Grandpa Tom, I was telling the kids about world famous french toast and they are now excited to try some of that next week :)