granolier

2 1/2 cups rolled oats 
1/2 cup cane sugar or sucanat
1/4 cup ground flax
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/2 cup raisins
1/2 cup dried cranberries
3/4 teaspoon sea salt
1/2 cup honey
1 egg, beaten or egg substitute
1/2 cup canola oil (I might try substituting some of the oil with apple sauce next time)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract


1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease 9 x 13 baking pan.
2. In large bowl, mix together the oats, sugar, flax, cinnamon, flour, raisins and salt. Make a well in the centre, pour in the honey, egg, oil and vanilla. Mix well. Pat the mixture evenly into the pan.
3. Bake for about 25 minutes, but watch the baking time. You want them to be chewy, not dry.
Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into bars or squares. Do not allow the bars to cool completely before cutting or they will be too hard to cut.

I have never been keen to purchase granola bars. Mainly because they rarely taste yummy or fresh and the organic ones which we prefer are extremely expensive ($6 for 4 of them??!!). Also, anything individually packaged really peeves me off. So wasteful! So anyways, last Sunday night at around 9pm, when I realized I had to provide snacks for Henry's Montessori class that week, rather than panic and rush to the store - tempting though that response was - I decided to try this recipe.
They turned out to be quick and easy. Plus, they got the approval from all three of my boys, which is rare.
So yeah, make 'em. Then eat 'em.


xo