Homemade Granola Bars

I make these all the time! They are such a great breakfast or snack. They can be a tiny bit tedious with all of the ingredients and chopping the nuts but they are definitely worth it. I love knowing all of the ingredients in the food we eat, though sometimes I'd rather not know and just enjoy it. ;-)

Homemade Granola Bars - With my modifications in red. :)

Ingredients

2 cups quick cooking oats

1 cup all-purpose flour

3/4 cup packed brown sugar (I cut it down to 1/2 cup, tastes the same!)

3/4 cup raisins (I use either Craisins or whatever we have on hand or more recently a mix of Craisins and dark chocolate chips :))

1/2 cup wheat germ (I use ground Flaxseed)

1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon (I always use more :))

1/2 cup chopped English walnuts (I chop almonds in a mini food processor)

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I use either canola or sometimes some olive oil as well)

1/2 cup honey

1 egg

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

I've also been adding 1/4 cup of sesame seeds

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9x13 inch baking pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper, and spray with vegetable oil spray.

2. In a large bowl stir together oats, flour, brown sugar, raisins, wheat germ, salt, cinnamon, and walnuts. In a smaller bowl, thoroughly blend oil, honey, egg, and vanilla; pour into the flour mixture, and mix by hand until the liquid is evenly distributed. Press evenly into the prepared baking pan.

3. Bake 25-30 minutes in the preheated oven, or until edges are golden. Cool completely in pan before turning out onto a cutting board and cutting into bars.

{I forgot to take a pic of the wet ingredients, was too excited to bake and eat 'em :)}

{This batch was all Craisins, first pic is Craisins and dark chocolate chips :)}

Do have a granola bar recipe that you love??