Homemade Granola Treats

I don’t know about you, but I just love granola! It’s sweet, nutty and packed with flavor, plus it’s great for you, full of  protein and whole grains. It’s a perfect gluten free breakfast or snack.

We’ve been making homemade granola for quite some time now. It’s way better then the store bought stuff with just the right amount of oats, nuts, dried fruit and sweet honey goodness. It’s always so fresh too, probably because it doesn’t last too long in this house. We eat granola with everything from cereal, to yogurt, in smoothies or just by the handful.

Our Food Jules Nutty Granola recipe is so delicious, that it has become one of our most popular products at the summer farmer’s market. Once you taste the difference between homemade, fresh granola and the store bought ones, you will never want to eat the packaged granola again! Granola is so versatile too, you can pack it full of nuts or seeds, dried fruit or even chocolate chips. It is a perfect gluten free snack.

Over the past year, we’ve started making Nut Free Granola Bites that the kids take to school as a snack. These are so good and easy to pop in your mouth for a quick breakfast on the go! The kids love them so much that I’ve started to incorporate them into my cooking class curriculum. Plus, they are  nut free, which makes them a perfect, nutritious school snack, without worrying about any potential allergies.

I’ve also been tinkering around with different granola bar recipes and even tried converting our standard granola recipes into bars, but it’s never quite worked out as well as I thought it would. Until this weekend. I tried a new granola bar recipe, made a few minor adjustments and voila, our Nutty Granola Bars have arrived. These granola bars are perfect, so soft and chewy yet you still get a little crunch from all of the nuts. Plus, they are so simple to make. Again, you if you need to keep it nut-free, you can swap out the nuts for sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or even chocolate chips.

The key to making a perfect granola bar is to bake it for just a few minutes, until it’s slightly golden. You don’t want to over bake it or it will get too dark and too hard to eat. Also, you have to be sure to let them cool completely before cutting them into bars, otherwise they will fall apart. I allowed our bars to cool at room temperature for a couple of hours before cutting them and then stored them in an air tight container.

Well, I hope you’ll enjoy all of these delicious granola recipes and feel free to share your favorite granola recipes with us. Our next granola adventure may be a dark chocolate coconut granola bar, YUM. Mike and Lilliana would love that one!