Homemade Granola Bars

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My family loves granola—especially granola bars. Unfortunately, most store-bought granola bars are nothing but candy in clever disguise.  And the few truly nutritious granola products on the market more often than not taste like cardboard and cost like the devil.

So, once again, necessity was the mother, and — after a bit of experimentation — I invented what I feel is an unbeatable recipe for homemade granola bars. While I consider the following list of ingredients to be the core of the recipe, you can change things around a bit to suit your family's tastes and preferences. In fact, in a moment I'll offer some suggestions for doing just that.

2½ cups rolled oats (old-fashioned or instant)
1 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup raw sunflower seeds
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/2 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup slivered almonds
4 tablespoons butter or margarine
1/4 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup honey
1 cup raisins
2 teaspoons vanilla extract

While your oven is preheating to 300°F, spread the oats, coconut, sunflower seeds, sesame seeds, wheat germ and almonds evenly on a 9" x 12" baking sheet. Bake these dry ingredients for 20 minutes, stirring them occasionally.

Meanwhile, heat the butter (or margarine), brown sugar and honey in a small saucepan, allowing the brew to simmer until the oat mixture is ready to come out of the oven. (If you or yours like really crispy granola, bake the dry ingredients an additional few minutes.) As soon as the oat mixture is out, add the raisins, stirring them into the other ingredients.

Now remove the honey from the heat and stir in the vanilla extract, then pour the hot liquid over the oat mixture and stir until all the dry ingredients are coated.

Next, press the granola firmly into the bottom of a greased 8" x 8" pan and place it in the still-warm oven to bake (at the same 300°F as before) for 20 minutes. (An 8" x 8" pan makes bars about an inch thick; if you want thinner bars, use a slightly larger pan.)