I've been buying breakfast/"health" bars to take to work. But I realized they can be quite pricy. They're tiny bars that are nearly 200 calories each and contain ingredient that I would rather not have for breakfast. I, thus, decided to make my own so that I can control the ingredients that I put in them. Found this recipe from another blogger: http://www.spain-in-iowa.com/2012/08/homemade-chewy-dark-chocolate-cherry-with-almond-granola-bars/. I decided to do some of my own tweaks.
I basically followed the spirit of the recipe, but skipped the sugar. It is a breakfast bar, not dessert. I think it's sweet enough with just the honey. Here are some other changes I made (mainly what was already in my pantry): instead of dried cherries, dried cranberries; instead of almonds, mixed nuts that I chopped up in my food processor; used bittersweet chocolate chips instead of the bar; and finally, switched the coconut oil for canola oil (coconut oil has a much higher fat content, I figured I can give up the coconut flavor for a healthier bar).
Some other tips that would have been helpful before I made the bar was to use wax paper. Despite a generous spraying of Pam, my bars stuck to the pan so was a bit challenging to take out. Wait about an hour for the bars to cool and set before attempting to remove from the pan. Also, I'm going to try cutting up the bars before I put them in the oven next time as cutting them without crumbling was another challenge. Other than that, these bars seem to hold pretty well. Finally, a small thing that will make the process a tad easier is that Used the measuring cup for the oil and then the honey. The honey slid right off the cup! Et voila, you have yourself a breakfast bar with no mystery ingredients!
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