Homemade Granola Bars

Over the years, I've tried damn near every brand of granola on the market and haven't been enthralled with any of them. Some are too hard, some are too sweet, ect. Since starting this new job, I've tried a few easy breakfast ideas for the commute to work. So far none have done very well and I end up getting fast food.

Then I remembered a blog post I ran across a few months ago. I was looking for fast breakfast ideas for school. The chance to make my own granola bars was too good to pass up, so I saved this site for another time. Well, that time is now.



Can you find wheat germ where you live? I never thought it was terribly exotic, but none of the stores down here carry it. It's bizarre. However, our Publix did have some organic flax seed. I've never had it before, so I threw it in the basket and toasted it up for this recipe. Wow. If that's what it tastes like then I am all about flax. It's got a wonderful nutty, earthy flavor that reminds me greatly of toasted sesame seeds. I suggest toasting all the other ingredients first and adding the flax in for the last few minutes because they're so small they brown early.

Aside from the flax, I used a bag of tart dried cherries and half a bag of diced dried mango. Everything else was from the pantry, and you know how happy that makes me. Assembly was easy and the house smelled fantastic. The recipe made enough for 12 normal sized granola bars. Overall, these were incredibly tasty. They're soft, but not soft enough to fall apart. Since I'm looking for a breakfast item, I might fool around with adding more protein to these. Maybe a little protein powder? More nuts? These could probably do with a little more fruit as well.



I took a few of these for my two day work trip. I ate all of them. Seriously, eating 5 our of the 12 in two days is a record for me. I usually can't stomach to eat one a day of the normal store bought ones. I think I'll have fun playing around because I am definitely making these again.