Cheap and Healthy Homemade Granola Bars

   

The ingredients for this recipe cost me under 8 dollars (not counting the egg, butter, honey, apples and cinnamon which I already had in my cupboard).

Ingredients and Directions:

In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients:

-2 cups of Organic Rolled Oats

-3/4 cup of dried fruit (I used a mixture of    unsweetened shredded coconut, cranberries, cherries, and raisins)

-1/2 to 3/4 cup of chopped nuts (I used   almonds)

-1/2 cup chocolate or carob chips (I used carob – no caffeine in it, unlike cacao/chocolate)

-1 and 1/2 tsps of cinnamon (and add any other spices or flavouring you like)

-1 tablespoon of white sesame seed

-1 tablespoon of black sesame seed

(if you wanted you could also add a few tablespoons of wheat germ to increase the protein content. You could also add some puffed quinoa for a bit of crunch).

In a pot over low heat warm up:

-1/2 cup of honey (I used honey that already had chai spices in it, including cinnamon, ginger, clove and cardamon)

-2 and a half Tablespoons of Butter

-1 teaspoon of virgin coconut oil

In another bowl:

Mix together

-2 grated apples (do I need to specify to leave the core out? Leave the core out.)

You could also substitute one apple for a very ripe mashed banana.

-1 beaten egg

Then mix together the honey and butter mixture into the apple and egg mixture, and combine well.

-Then stir the wet ingredients into the dry.

-Spread this mixture into a greased baking pan.

-Bake at 325F and bake for 25-30 mins.

-Allow to cool before cutting into desired sized pieces/bars

      I don't know the size of my baking sheet, but the mixture ended up being about 2 cms thick. If you use a smaller baking sheet and your mix is thicker you may want to bake for an extra five mins or so.

         The baked apple in this comes out fluffy-ish and keeps the recipe moist. The result is a fairly moist and chewy texture.

Enjoy!