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My husband enjoys traditional woodworking, which is woodworking without power tools. He doesn’t have a great deal of time for it, so when he decided to make me a bookcase, I was thrilled. What an awesome gift! He recently finished it and I love it! How cool, to display something made by hand. I put some of my favorite books on the bottom shelf, which are food books, of course! 😉 He adorned the top with woodworking books, which is incredibly fitting. How could I not share this bookcase with him, right? As a small token of my appreciation, I made him three types of granola bars: chocolate chip, cashew and chocolate chip, and sunflower seed. I have been searching for a good base granola bar recipe, and am very happy with it. I found it at Bless this Mess Please. Eating granola bars and reading, can it get better than that? 😀
Ingredients
- recipe adapted from Bless this Mess Please
- 3 3/4 cups rolled oats
- 1/4 raw cashews
- 1/3 cup honey
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- 1/3 cup unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1/3 tsp. salt
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips
- 1/8 cup roasted and salted sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Spray or grease a 3 qt rectangular casserole dish (glass works well) and set aside. You can line with parchment paper as well.
- The directions are for 3 different types of granola bars made at the same time. You can make just one or come up with your own flavor combinations.
- Chop the cashews finely. Mix with 1/3 of the oats and place on a baking sheet. Bake for 9 to 11 minutes until lightly toasted. Toast the remaining plain oats for 9 to 11 minutes and set aside.
- Place the honey, butter, and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir as needed and remove from heat once butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Stir in the vanilla extract and salt.
- Place the oats and cashews in one bowl and the plain oats in another. Pour 1/3 of the sugar mixture over the oats and cashews and the remaining sugar mixture over the plain oats. Stir both until all oats are covered. Let sit and cool for 15 minutes.
- Add 1/4 chocolate chips to the cashew and oat mixture and stir well. Add to the casserole dish pressing down and filling up 1/3 of the dish. Place a piece of parchment paper at the edge to separate the next flavor.
- Split the plain oat mixture in half. Add the remaining chocolate chips to one half and stir, and add the sunflower seeds to the other half and stir. Add both mixtures separately to the casserole dish by pressing down and using parchment paper to separate the next flavor.
- Place in the refrigerator for 2 hours until set. Cut the bars with a sharp knife and store at room temperature. If stacking, place parchment paper between the bars.
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I am excited to bring my granola bars to Fiesta Friday #243 this week! Your awesome cohosts this week are Catherine @ Kunstkitchen’s Blog and Becky @ Bubbly Bee.
Sure like this granola!
Thank you so much, Rita!
Magnificently done in all accounts!!
Thank you for the kind words, Spira! I hope you have been doing well!
Yum, yum, yum! Granola bars are my favorite snack and these look fabulous! Thank you for sharing on Fiesta Friday!
Thank you, Becky! Happy Fiesta Friday and thank you for co-hosting this week!
What a lovely bookshelf Antonia! It’s so special to have a quality handmade item to put your cookbooks on. I also loved looking at your cookbooks 🙂 I’ve been thinking about making granola bars as Christmas gifts this year. I’m flagging this recipe to use! Did feel like this recipe was too sweet, or was it about perfect?!
Thank you, Heather! It is really cool, and he is planning to build another one too! They aren’t overly sweet, but still sweet. However, it is more of a balanced sweet taste, because of the honey and brown sugar, so it wasn’t just straight sugary sweet, if that makes sense. I enjoyed the bars with the sunflower seeds the best, because the salty element added a nice balance. It is the best granola bar recipe I have made that would please both kids and adults. If I was making it for just me, I would have gone with a honey based bar. I hope this helps! Have an awesome day, my friend! 😀
Perfect, thank you for your thoughts on the bars! I’ve only made them using a recipe once before and I just felt like they were little candy bars! I’m tucking this one away for December! Happy Wednesday to you too 🙂
Great, I hope you enjoy them! 😀
What a lovely gift! You guys sure filled it up fast. I wonder how long before you’re both wanting to add on to it, or have another? 😁 Those granola bars look yummy!
I visited a Greek section of Tarpon Springs, FL last week and had for the first time a Melomakarona cookie. I bought only one of those b/c I wanted to get a sample of several. Out of them all the Melomakarona was my favorite. Now I’m searching for a Greek bakery to get more! Have you ever featured that cookie here?
We have no shortage of books, just bookcases, lol. He is planning to build a larger one. I’m really excited. Thank you so much, Deborah! I’ve never been to Tarpon Springs, but we have friends there. It is supposed to be so pretty. Melomakarona are one of my all time favorite cookies. I can enjoy them dry or soaked in syrup. I haven’t featured them yet, but I need to. My mom’s are incredible. She makes them every Christmas. Her recipe is not written down, so it would be a good opportunity to get it on paper. I need to try and do that for the holidays! I will let you know if I do.
Oh, I’m looking forward to you making these!
The ones I had were very tender, and so good. I really wish I had an opportunity to get back over there, but it was my last day in FL unfortunately. I’ll have to go back! 😁
They are really amazing. They are baked and then dipped in a hot syrup, similar to the syrup used in baklava. I will let you know! 😀
How nice! My husband tried to make me a bookshelf once. After a lot of discussion, designing and measuring, etc., the whole thing came out crooked, lol. Oh well, it’s the thought that counts 😀 Btw, just a reminder that you’ll be cohosting Oct 26. As soon as I know who your cohost is, I’ll let you know.
Thanks, Angie! It’s harder than you think. Anything handmade is the best. 😀 I have it on my calendar, and am looking forward to it!
Thanks for the recipe, Antonia. These look like great snacks. 🙂 And congrats to your husband on the bookcase. That was sweet of him and I like how you each got a shelf dedicated to your talents. 🙂
I hope you enjoy it, it’s a nice granola recipe. Thank you, Diana, I love it! 😀 He is going to make a larger one next. I can’t wait! Have a nice Monday! 😀
What a nice exchange!! (although I think you got the best gift– the beautiful bookcase!! He’s really talented! ) Larry has made book shelves for our house and I treasure them, something that will last in our home. And the granola bars look wonderful!! Fun to have different versions, variety. would be fun to make these when the grand-girls come… thanks Antonia!! Hope your family is enjoying the fall season– do you do anything special this time of year?? hugs to all.
Thank you so much, Rhonda! They are definitely something to treasure. We are, looking forward to cooler weather and fall colors! I hope you are enjoying fall as well. I love this time of year! 😀
Me too! If finally rained this evening! hugs Antonia!!
😀