Snack

Trip Granola Bars is for Snack.

Trip Granola Bars takes 30 minutes to prepare.

Trip Granola Bars takes 20 minutes to cook.

Trip Granola Bars makes 24 servings.

The ingredients for Trip Granola Bars are:

Granola Bars (double this for a full size pan):

1 C Grape Nuts Cereal (we sometimes use the
Kashi Go Lean Crunch cereal instead)

1 C Oatmeal (dry) I prefer the Old Fashioned Oats as they provide more texture. If you use gluten-free certiied oats and a gluten-free cereal this would become a gluten-free recipe.

1/2 C raw pecan halves, chopped I use walnuts because they are cheaper. I have also used pine nuts for someone that does not like either pecans or walnuts.

1/4 C sliced blanched almonds

1/4 C pumpkin seeds I substitute pepitas from the HyVee bulk section because they do not have pumpkin seeds.

1/4 C sunflower seeds
1/2 C coconut flakes
1/4 C dried cranberries
1/4 C golden raisins
1/4 C currants I have substitued regular raisins and dried cherries for the golden raisions and currents, but found that what I like best is to use tropical fruit blend that has banana chips, raisins, pineapple, papaya, and apricots.

1/4 C chocolate chips

7 dried apricots, sliced

1/4 C smooth soy (peanut) butter I have used peanut butter, but found that I prefer almond butter for the milder flavor.

3/4 C lmaple syrup I use 1/4 C maple syrup and 1/2 C honey

1/4 C light brown sugar

1/4 C protein powder (1/2 C if using instant dry milk) I use choclate whey protein powder.

Heat the oven to 350 degrees. Lightly grease an 8x8 inch baking pan (if you did not double the mix) and set aside. In a large bowl, combine (mix) the Grape Nuts, oatmeal, pecans, almonds, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, half the coconut, raisins, cranberries, currants, and apricots.

In a small saucepan, over low heat, combine the peanut butter, maple syrup and brown sugar and stir until smooth and just bubbling, about 2 minutes. Add protein powder and stir well. Pour
over the dry mix and combine well. Fold in the liquid carefully just like Julia showed you how to fold in egg whites. Becareful because the syrup mix will stick to you and burn badly until it is cooled by the dry ingredients.

Before putting the mixture into the baking pan stir in
the chocolate chips. This will keep the chips from melting right away. Press the mixture into the
pan and bake until light, golden brown, about 20-30 minutes depending on how your oven cooks.

See the notes about cooking time above. Be sure to scrape the pan and lick the spoon. Everything left in the bowl is good and good for you, and there is nothing that you have to worry about transmitting microbes.

Remove from the oven and sprinkle on the remaining coconut and press down gently. Set aside until cool about 30 minutes. Cut into bars.

We found that if you keep the cut up bars in the refrigerator (in baggies or some other container)
they will last for a long time and will stay fairly solid. When traveling with the granola bars, it may
help if you place one or two of them in individual snack size baggies and then place all the bars
into a small box in your suitcase. This will keep them from crumbling and will make placing them
into your waist pack quite simple.

Here is how you make Trip Granola Bars:

Serving Size: divide 9X13 pan into 24 piecesNumber of Servings: 24Recipe submitted by SparkPeople user JEPURSELL.

The nutritional information for Trip Granola Bars is:

• Servings Per Recipe: 24
• Amount Per Serving
• Calories: 331.8

• Total Fat: 13.0 g
• Cholesterol: 9.2 mg
• Sodium: 107.6 mg
• Total Carbs: 49.3 g
• Dietary Fiber: 4.0 g
• Protein: 8.9 g