Raspberry Granola Bars

I love granola bars, but they’re expensive and make me feel bad for buying all that packaging.  I started looking up recipes, and found a few that sounded delicious.   This round I’m making Raspberry Granola Bars from a recipe I got from Foodandwine.com.

I found a jar of raspberry jam my mom made that I knew would be tasty for this, so that went in and reduced my cost.  I substituted almonds for pecans both because I don’t care for pecans that much, and I had exactly a cup left over from making granola.

You will need

1 cup slivered almonds (the original called for chopped pecans, toasted) ($8.39 per lb, $8.39/16oz = $.52 x 3.5oz = $1.84)

1 ½ cups flour ($1.39 per 5 lb, $1.39/ 80oz = $.02 x 8.25oz = $.14)

1 ¼ cups organic rolled oats ($1.49 per lb, $1.49/ 16 oz = $.09 x 5 oz = $.47)

1/3 cup sugar ($3.29 per 5 lb, $3.29/ 80oz = $.04 x 2.5oz = $.10)

1/3 cup brown sugar ($.99 per 16 oz, $.99/ 2.35 cups = $.42 x .33 cup = $.14)

1 tsp salt ($.47 per 26 oz, $.47/ 30.69 tsp = $.02)

½ tsp baking soda ($1.99 per 32 oz, $1.99/ 201.52 tsp = $.01/ x .05tsp = less than $.01)

1 ½ sticks butter, melted ($2.97 per 4 sticks, $2.97/4 = $.74 x 1.5 sticks = $1.11)

1 cup local raspberry preserves (free to me)

Someone was tasting the dry ingredients.

Preheat oven to 350, and butter an 8x8 pan.  Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl.  Add melted butter, stir till thoroughly combined.  Put 2/3 of the mixture into the pan and pat it down so it’s flat and even.  Add the preserves, spread out evenly.  Add the remaining oat mixture, pat it out evenly over the preserves (the original recipe says to sprinkle it on).  Bake for 45 minutes, rotating once half way through.  Cool in the pan for 3 hours, then cut into squares.

With the butter added.  Doesn't that look delicious?

Thanks Mom!

Well, after making my house smell like burnt sugar, I now understand why they say to sprinkle the top granola.  Since the preserves had no room to bubble, it all went to the edges and bubbled onto the sides of the pan and burned on.  Once I cut them, I realized how thick they are.  Despite being named “Back to School  Raspberry Granola Bars”, they’re more like an oatmeal square.  An incredibly dense and delicious oatmeal square.  I don’t know that I would try to replace my granola bars with this, at least not without some tweaking- bake in a 9x13 so they’re much thinner and crunchier – but they are insanely good!

(I recently went back to the site and read a description that I don't think was there when I originally got the recipe.  It clearly shows it being a crumbly soft square, rather than an actually granola bar.) 

Note the burned jam around the edge.  Sprinkle, don't pat!

Awesome raspberry goodness.

Try It

$3.82 for 16 squares, or $.24 per square.

Buy It

$2.50 for 6 Nature Valley Fruit and Nut bars, or $.42 per bar.

Verdict

First of all, if I had to buy the preserves it would have added 1.59 to my cost, or $.10 per square.  Even with that cost it’s cheaper than store bought.  They were really good- a small chunk of this in Spencer's lunch made his day.  I would Try It, but it won’t always take the place of the flavor of a store bought granola bar.  Be on the lookout for future granola bar tests coming your way...

NEXT WEEK: Chocolate syrup!