Homemade Granola

I'd really been wanting to make some homemade granola.  I hadn't seen a recipe that really stuck out to me until I saw these thick, chewy granola bars from Deb at Smitten Kitchen.  I liked that they were thicker and I'd have something to bite into.  I still have one bar left, but once that one is gone, I'll definitely be making these again - with variations on the nuts, fruit, peanut butter.

P.S. I love Smitten Kitchen - the photos are beautiful, the food is elegant and the writing draws me. 

Jamie Olive, the adorable British chef who has been fighting for a food revolution for a while now, is starting to make a larger splash in America with his new ABC show, which premiers tonight at 7 p.m. CST.  He also did a TedTALKs recently.  If you haven't watched it yet, I highly recommend it.

Process oats until they make an oat flour.

Combine all the dry ingredients together - quick rolled oats, granulated sugar, oat flour (made above), salt and cinnamon.

Pull out whatever nuts or dried fruit you have in the fridge/freezer/pantry.  I love nuts and dried fruit as a snack.  I opted for pecans, almonds, walnuts, dried apples, peaches and cranberries.  Use what you like and have available.  I rough cut them because I like being able to see these things in my granola bars.

Toss in the fruit and nuts with the rest of the dry ingredients.

Combine the wet ingredients - peanut butter (which I was out of so I just omitted and didn't miss at all), vanilla extract, melted butter, honey and water. 

Pour the liquids over the dry ingredients and mush around til everything is just coated.

Spread out in a prepared pan.  I didn't have parchment paper so I just greased my pan; however, my granola did break some when I was moving it out of the pan.

Bake at 350 for 30 to 40 minutes. 

Let it cool completely and remove from pan.  Mine were a little dark/crumbly around the edges and broke off.  I just saved those pieces and have been eating them over yogurt for breakfast.

Cut into bars.

These really are a great thing to have in the pantry for mornings on the go and are less sweet than the granola typically found in grocery stores - Jamie Oliver would be proud.  Remember - tonight at 7 CST on ABC.  Watch it!

Happy cooking.