Early on Wednesday morning I’ll be leaving for a rather long trip. My husband and I will be visiting the UK (London and Nottingham), France (Paris and Lyon), New York City, and, very briefly, Zurich, Switzerland. That Switzerland leg was unplanned. Apparently when you book a multi-leg flight you have to be very careful to check the confirmation email to make sure every flight is included, otherwise they might not be able to confirm a flight and just leave it off without pointing out that fact. Or maybe only United Airlines does this. Anyway, we’ll be taking a train ride from Paris to Zurich, and supposedly it’s a lovely ride, so not too much harm done, I suppose. But we all know that food on plane flights can be hard to come by. In my experience it’s been much better on international flights than domestic ones (they often serve actual meals, included in the ticket price!), but I decided to make some travel snacks, just in case. These granola bars are made with lots of healthy nuts and grains, so I’m hoping that they’ll make the traveling just a little bit easier and less stressful. So when the inevitable travel snafus emerge, at least I won’t be hangry.
Crunchy Granola Bars Recipe
8 ounces old-fashioned rolled oats, approximately 2 cups
1 1/2 ounces raw sunflower seeds, approximately 1/2 cup
1 1/2 ounces raw pecan pieces, approximately 1/3 cup
1 1/2 ounces toasted hazelnuts, chopped, approximately 1/3 cup
1 ounce wheat bran, approximately 1/3 cup
1/2 ounce flax seeds, approximate 1 1/2 tsp
6 ounces honey, approximately 1/2 cup
1 3/4 ounces dark brown sugar, approximately 1/4 cup packed
1 ounce coconut butter, plus extra for pan
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
6 1/2 ounces chopped dried cranberries, approximately 1 1/3 cups
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, pecans, and wheat bran onto a half-sheet pan (9×13 inch). Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, coconut butter, vanilla extract, and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved and bubbles form.
Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 325 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, then add flax seeds, dried fruit and nuts, and stir to combine. Grease the half sheet pan with coconut butter. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking sheet and press down, evenly distributing the mixture and place in the oven to bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.
I got a super cute new cutting board. Check it out:
I am going to give this one a try – I’ve been using a recipe, but with inconsistent results, and I think I am doing the same thing each time. I’ll let you know if this works for me!