Pantry Revamp: Homemade Granola Bars

Today’s post on homemade granola bars is part of the Pantry Revamp series here on Little Homesteaders.  To read more about it, check out the first post here.  To read all the posts in the series, click the “pantry revamp” label to the right.

This week, I’m going back to the pantry and “revamping” an item from our snack shelf – the granola bar.  Yes, that’s right, I’m making homemade granola bars.  I’ve pulled my inspiration, once again, from Alana Chernila’s book  The Homemade Pantry.  She has a recipe in the book for what she calls “Car Snack 3 (The Nutty Granola Bar).”  I have not followed any of it 100%, so I’m going to give you my take on it (and I think it turned out pretty good).
There are a lot of ingredients, but it’s worth it.  I promise.
Ingredients
1/4 c butter
1/4 c Coconut Oil
3/4 c peanut butter
1/2 c brown sugar
2 tbsp Vanilla Extract
1/3 c honey
2 1/2 c old-fashioned rolled oats
1 1/2 c sliced almonds
3/4 Ghirardelli Chocolate Baking Chips
1/2 c toasted wheat germ
1/4 roasted sesame seeds
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
Directions
1.  Heat the oven to 350 degrees.  Prepare a 9×13 size pan by spraying it with cooking spray.
2.  Combine the first six ingredients in a large pot and heat over medium heat.  Stir constantly until everything is melted and combined.
3.  Add the next six ingredients to the pot.  Stir.  (Add the chocolate chips last so that they don’t get too melty.)
4. Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 25 minutes or until the edges brown.
The bars will still be really soft when you take them out and it will take about an hour to fully cool.  If you are impatient like me and start cutting them before the hour, you’ll lose a lot to crumbling.  Try to stay strong and wait for them to cool completely.  The result is so much better.

If you try these, let me know what you think.  Also, if you have a recipe for homemade granola bars, let me know.  These are pretty perfect, but I would love to try some other recipes.