Mini Granola Bites

     I am going to deviate from constant knitting talk this afternoon to bring you my all time favorite granola recipe with a few tweaks. =D

     First off, let me just say that my all time favorite chef is Ina Garten. Her mantra of keeping food simple but delicious has shaped my cooking style over the past 6 years. I have a number of her books and the reruns/new episodes of her show are always set to record on our DVR. If you have never heard of her or tried her recipes I urge you to go to your local Library and check out or request some of her books. They will change your cooking, for the better. =D 

     Now, Ina may not have super picky eaters in her home to cook for, but I (sadly) do. And when I say picky eaters I mean my husband and toddler aged son. My daughter will eat just about anything ( like her Mom!).  Trying to get my son to eat is my biggest challenge at the moment. And to be honest, I struggle to make homemade snacks and quick breakfast foods that everyone likes. So in comes Ina to save the day with her wonderful Granola Bar recipe that I have tweaked for my own needs. 

     Mini Granola Bites will change your snacking style overnight. What I do is make Ina's Granola Bar recipe and take about 1/3 or 1/2 of the batch and make it into mini bites. I take the remainder of the batch and make her bars as they are great for on the go breakfasts. 

Mini Granola Bites

My version of Ina's Homemade Granola Bar Recipe. My changes are in green. 

Ingredients:

2 cups of Old Fashioned Oats

1 cup of slivered almonds

1 cup of  shredded coconut (sweetened) loosely packed

1/4 cup of raw organic flax seed ( I used Bob's Mill ) 

3 tablespoons of butter ( melted or softened )

2/3 cup of honey

1/4 cup of light brown sugar lightly packed

1.5 teaspoons of vanilla extract

1 teaspoon of cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon of salt

1/2 cup chopped pitted dates

1/2 cup dried cranberries ( barely chopped )

1 cup of chopped dried apricots 

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Butter an 8X12 inch baking pan and line with parchment paper with 1.5 inches of overhang on the short ends of the pan. Set aside. Take a 24 ct muffin pan and place mini cupcake liners in each cup. Set Aside.

Toss the oats, almonds, coconut and flax seeds and spread out on a parchment lined baking tray. Bake in oven for 10-12 minutes until toasted. Make sure to toss the mixture occasionally to toast evenly. I found that for the last 2 minutes of baking time if you broil on low you will get slightly more color on the mixture. 

Lower the oven temp to 300 degrees F.

Pour mixture into a large mixing bowl, add the chopped nuts. Set aside. In a small mixing bowl blend the honey, butter, light brown sugar, vanilla, salt and cinnamon until combined. Then pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until everything is well incorporated. 

Take half of the mixture and pour it into the baking pan, set aside. Take the remaining mixture and use a tablespoon to scoop almost heaping spoonfuls into each mini muffin cup. Make sure to use a smaller spoon and using the back of the spoon press the mixture into each cup firmly. Refilling each cup until when pressed they're even at the top of the liner. When all of the mini muffins are finished, return any leftover granola mixture to the baking pan. Set aside the muffin pan.

In the baking pan gently smooth out the granola mixture making sure to dampen your fingers/hands with water until it is flat and even. I pressed the mixture in so they are more dense but thinner than the original recipe. 

Place both pans in the oven. I have two ovens so I placed one pan in each and set different timers for each. 

The mini muffin pan baked for 18 minutes. The baking pan baked for 30 minutes in my oven. But allow 25-30 minutes for yours. Allow to cool for 2-3 hours before cutting. Leave the bars out over night for a crunchy exterior but a soft interior. ( Ina's tip from the episode )

My Tips: I removed the mini muffin liners from the bites after they cooled to room temp. Otherwise they can stick to the paper liner. Also I removed the mini granola bites from the muffin pan to cool faster, for faster consumption. Because Gwen and I can't keep from "trying" one before they're completely cooled. We have to make sure they're okay for eating, right? ;) 

Homemade Granola Bars

     Our favorite uses for the Mini Granola Bites are in yogurt, on ice cream, or on fruit. They are a wonderful way for kids to get good nutrition without complaints! The best part of this recipe is that you can tweak it or use whatever you have on hand to make it how you like. It is simple, easy and the best part? Kids can help to pick what goes into them and help make them. ( supervised of course )

Ready to Consume!

     Hopefully you enjoyed this departure from the knitting chatter. From time to time I'll continue to share some of my favorite recipes. After all, you've got to have something good to eat to keep your energy up for knitting. ;) 

Happy Eating!

Kate