Chewy granola bars are pretty much a staple in our house. My kids love them and I tend to grab them for a quick breakfast most weekday mornings. For months my husband has been talking about making our own granola and I took it one step further with granola bars. I don't have anything against granola but it's crunchy and I'm definitely more of a chewy kind of girl. Plus I feel like chewy is more kid friendly.

What I really love about these granola bars is that I know exactly what's in them. They contain no eggs, no butter and my favorite, no preservatives. I'm not going to get on my soapbox about preservatives right now, but one of my New Year's resolutions for 2014 is eat fewer of them. Who ever thought I would be more about homemade and less about store bought convenience? Definitely not my Mom I bet.

After pouring over many recipes for granola and granola bars, I chose Chewy Date Granola Bars by Busy in Brooklyn to try out.

You need:

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoon pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons coconut oil (solidified)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
8 dates

First, I prepped the dates by pitting them and giving them a rough chop.

Then, I put all of the ingredients into a bowl. Doesn't that sound easy? Well, it is. How refreshing to be able to put all of the ingredients in one place?

After all the ingredients are in the bowl I mixed the ingredients with my hands to form a large ball of dough. The coconut oil will give your hands a super soft feel when you are finished.

Next, I used parchment paper to line a 9 X 9 stoneware pan. I spread the granola dough into the pan evenly and baked in a 350 degree oven for exactly 22 minutes.

While the Chewy Almond Date Bars were baking, I decided to make a more kid friendly version for my little ones. Now, don't get me wrong, I'm supremely confident that my kids would eat these granola bars, but I wanted a little something fun. My son loves the Quaker Chewy S'mores granola bars, so I made an at home version of the S'mores. Instead of dates and almonds, I substituted them with 1/2 cup of Jet-Puffed Mallow Bits Marshmallows (the really tiny marshmallows) and a 1/2 cup of mini-chocolate chips.

After baking and cooling, the parchment paper made it really easy to lift the granola out of the baking pan for cutting. I cut the granola bars into tenths-half and then 5 semi-equal rectangles (whoa, fractions).

For storing I placed all the bars that made it past the initial tasting in an airtight container with pieces of parchment between each bar so they wouldn't stick together.

I thought for sure these granola bars would be good, but they far exceeded my expectations. There will be no more store bought granola bars in this house!

Chewy Almond Date Granola Bars

Ingredients:

3/4 cup white whole wheat flour
3/4 cup quick oats
1/3 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup ground flaxseed
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
5 tablespoon pure maple syrup
3/4 cup brown sugar
4 tablespoons coconut oil (solidified)
1/2 cup sliced almonds
8 dates

1) Pit and roughly chop the dates.

2) Place all ingredients into a large bowl.

3) Mix the ingredients until they are combined.

4) Spread granola mix into a parchment lined 9 x 9 baking pan.

5) Bake at 350 degrees for 22 minutes.

6) Cool.

7) Cut into bars.

8) Enjoy!

Chewy S'mores Granola Bars