Granola Bars

a slight variation of Alton Brown's recipe on foodtv.com

2 cups rolled oats

1 cup sliced or chopped almonds

1 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup honey

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 oz. butter

2 tsp vanilla

1/2 tsp salt

1/2 cup cocunut

1/2 cup dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, blueberries, etc)


1. preheat to 350 degrees.
2. spread oats, almonds, wheat germ on cookie sheet. toast for 15 minutes in oven.
3. combine honey, sugar, butter, extract, salt in saucepan. cook until sugar dissolves.
4. once toasting is done, reduce heat to 300.
5. add oat mixture to sugar mixture. add fruit and coconut, stir to combine.
6. turn out mixture into greased baking dish. press down flat.
7. bake for 25 minutes. let cool completely. slice into bars.

as an extra, before baking i put chocolate chips along the 2 long edges. once the baking was done, i smoothed them out for a nice sweet surprise at the top of each bar.