Homemade Granola Bars

I got this recipe from Destenee's Activity Days teacher. Isabel's favorite snack in the world is Quaker Chocolate Chip Granola Bars. These taste just like them, and they're homemade. All of these ingredients are things you can have on your storage shelf. They are so yummy. There are a few variations I've tried, and some work better than others.

Dry Ingredients
2 1/2 cups Rice Krispies
2 cups quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup peanuts
1/2 cup sweetened coconut
2 tbsp flax seed

Sugar Mixture
1/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup corn syrup or honey (corn syrup works better, but the honey is good. You could try half and half to see if they stick together better)
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla

Final addition
1/2 cup chocolate chips (or butterschotch chips)

1. prepare a 9x13 pan with non-stick spray (my metal pans worked better than glass pans)
2. In a large bowl, mix all dry ingredients so they are ready for the hot sugar mixture.
3. In a sauce pan, make sugar mixture. Combine brown sugar, corn syrup and honey; bring to a full boil and allow to boil 1 minute. Turn down heat and add peanut butter and vanilla, stirring quickly until smooth.
4. Work quickly - pour the hot sugar mixture over dry ingredients and use two wooden spoons to thoroughly combine ingredients. Stir in chips LAST so they don't melt in the hot mixture.
5. Press mixture very firmly into prepared pan. Keep pressing down until your bars are dense in order to keep them from crumbling later when you cut them.
6. When cool, use a sharp knife to cut into 18 bars ( 1 cut lengthwise and then 9 cuts across)

The possibilities are endless. I wanted more nuts and no dried fruit, but you can substitute raisins, currants, etc. for the 2nd portion of nuts. We've used butterscotch chips, they are wonderful. Make them to your family's tastes. Adam hates peanut butter, so I leave the peanut butter out and add more corn syrup. If you use 1 cup corn syrup, with no peanut butter or honey, they stick together very well and closely resemble the Quaker bars. My family loves these. The peanut butter and honey mixture is more crumbly, but they are so yummy.

Wheat Mills

Part of our bread making class was discussing wheat mills. Having a good wheat mill makes all the difference to your bread because the condition of your flour affects how your bread turns out. Adam's parents gave me a wheat mill several years ago for Christmas, and it happens to be the brand our teacher recommended. It's one of the things you may need to save up for, but having the right tools in your kitchen is an investment. Here is the link to the site for the wheat mills. http://www.blendtec.com

Making Whole Wheat Bread

In February, our Relief Society did a whole-wheat bread making class. Most of us have mixers, and can make bread much quicker than by hand, but it is a skill we should have in our back pocket should we need it. We had sisters learning to make bread and sisters who were pros at it, working together. The mentoring made such a difference. You really have to learn what the dough feels like when it's ready, and it was so helpful to have someone there to give me tips. Here is the recipe we used at the class, it makes just one loaf of bread and works great for learning how to make bread by hand.

Whole Wheat Bread
3 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
1/3 cup milk
1/4 cup honey
1 cup warm water
1 1/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tbsp instant yeast

In a large mixing bowl combine 1 cup of water (at a temperature of 110 to 120 degrees) with one cup of flour and the salt, honey, yeast, oil and milk. Stir well.

Mix in the remaining flour and stir until the dough starts to pull away from the bowl.

Place the dough on a lightly floured surface and knead the dough for 6 to 10 minutes. You may need to add more flour a little at a time through this process.

Shape into a loaf and put in a lightly greased loaf pan. Loosely cover with lightly oiled plastic wrap and let rise for 30 to 60 minutes until the doughg rises approximately one inch above pan.

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Place the loaf in the center of the oven and cook for about 40 minutes. After 20 minutes loosely cover the pan with aluminum foil, test if the wheat bread is done by thumping the bottom of the bread, it should sound hollow. Let bread cool on a rack, then serve.