Question: how do I make granola/snack bars?[

[Broomstick]

Question: how do I make granola/snack bars?

Thanks to a recent sale at work I picked up some South Beach Good To Go Bars. Randomly chosen example. They're basically a slightly more nutritious version of a candy or granola bar. They're decent and I've been chucking one into my work lunch bag as a snack or dessert. Between the whole grains and the protein they seem more satisfying than a real candy bar.

(I also thought it would be nice to know what they tasted like because customers ask me questions about them frequently, and being able to say "yes, I've tried them" seems a positive for customers. But that's a bit of a digression.)

It occurs to me that I could probably make something of this sort at home. It may or may not be less money depending on what ingredients I use, but I haven't done anything of this sort before and thought maybe I could ask for some advice from other cooks before I commence making a mess of my kitchen (again).

I'm not so much interested in a specific recipe as the general concept - I figure once I have some guidelines I can make my own recipes and experiments. So... typically these are some sort of grain item, usually nuts/fruits chopped into bits, and some sort of binder, right? Generally something sweet and slightly gooey as binder, right? (Mmm... calories...) Sounds sort of like rice crispy bars, which is probably the closest thing I've made to this sort of thing (yes, I'm old enough to remember when the only rice crispy bars you could get were the ones you made, I never saw them for sale until after I was an adult).

I tried googling, but most of what I found either required you to sign up for something or was click-bait or some self-involved video or picture montage of someone making something rather than an actual recipe to follow.

So... basic recipes? Advice?

I'm not looking to make this into a wonderful health food. Something chewy/crunchy/tasty is the first goal, protein and fiber being a bonus.

[General Zod]

Do you have a food processor? I was looking into this a while back and that's the main thing you need to have. Other than that it seems like it depends on what kind of base you want it to be made up of.

[Broomstick]

Nope, no food processor other than my own two hands.

Although I will point out that I have zero problems kneading enough dough for a half dozen loaves of bread by hand or cracking open a half kilo of pecans with my hands instead of a nutcracker. Not quite to the point of my great-aunt Pearl who used to mince beef by hand*, I do own a meat-grinder. Between my knives, hand strength, and my mortar and pestle I can reduce things to bits and pieces with no problem. Come to think of it, there's no reason I can't run nuts or dried fruits through the meat grinder to reduce to them to something between very fine chop and paste. After all, I'm not making commercial quantities of this stuff.

Although if this really catches on I might consider getting a food processor. Which might induce the spouse to make hummus again (he makes a really fantastic hummus). I just hate getting more kitchen gadgets that have to be cleaned, and also my kitchen is about the size of a galley on a small boat, just not a lot of room for more stuff.

* Her chopped liver was heavenly... but wow, the amount of time and work that went into it! It was educational, finding out how folks used to do that sort of thing before kitchen gadgets and automation.

[Isolder74]

Dan's Homemade Granola Bars.

4 cups Grape Nuts Cereal
4 cups Rolled Oats(don't you dare use INSTANT!)
2 cups Grape Nuts Flakes
2 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup bits of dried fruit, nuts, chocolate chips or whatever you'd like.(optional)

1 1/2 cups chunky Peanut Butter.
1 cup Honey
1 cup Caro Syrup
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Sugar

Prepare 2 half sheet pans with non stick spray or a sheet of Parchment paper(best)
In a large mixing bowl, mix together all the cereal and other bits. In a medium saucepan, combine the sugar, brown sugar, honey, peanut butter, and Caro Syrup. Using medium heat, stir until it just comes to a boil. Pour immediately into the cereal mixture. Stir together well. Press half of the mixture into each of the pans an with greased hands(trust me you'll need it!) press into an even layer in both pans. Let cool completely. if using the parchment, lift out of the pan and onto a large cutting board and using a pizza cutter divide into 2 inch by 3 inch bars.

Enjoy!

[Broomstick]

So... that's roughly 12 cups of some sort of cereal/grain thing, 1 cup of dried fruit/nuts/chunky bits, 1.5 cups nut butter, 4 cups of various sugars? Very, very roughly a 6:1 ratio of crunchy/chewy to sugar/syrup?

I'm trying to get a feel for proportions. I assume I could fiddle a bit with the quantities of cereal/chunky bits, nut butter?

Would sort of prefer to skip the Caro Syrup - I have honey, white sugar, brown sugar, and molasses already in the pantry. Don't know if I could substitute molasses 1:1 for corn syrup.

[Zaune]

Hmmm. If not a food processor, how about a coffee grinder? They usually advertise themselves as being equally effective for nuts, spices etc.

[Isolder74]

You have it about right. You can sub molasses for the corn syrup. I usually don't because some people don't like the stronger flavor. In fact you could go with all honey instead as well.

Just a tip, if using chocolate, add those bits just before rolling them out into bars as they will melt less.

Edit: I've gone as much as 3 cups of the fruit/chunky bits without much problems with the final bars.

[Broomstick]

Hmmm. If not a food processor, how about a coffee grinder? They usually advertise themselves as being equally effective for nuts, spices etc.

No, seriously, I use a mortar and pestle. That was the original "food processor".

Or I can buy the nuts pre-chopped.

I have a very low tech kitchen.

You have it about right. You can sub molasses for the corn syrup. I usually don't because some people don't like the stronger flavor. In fact you could go with all honey instead as well.

Good to know.

My household actually likes the stronger flavors (which reminds me, haven't made gingerbread for awhile) and since most of my cooking is from scratch these days we haven't acquired the same sweet tolerance as the rest of the country.

Just a tip, if using chocolate, add those bits just before rolling them out into bars as they will melt less.

Unless, of course I want them to melt, right?

You see, I could go crazy with a mix of a half dozen grains, several types of nuts, dried fruit, and a combo of white/milk/dark chocolate bits. Or go more specific: oats/pecans/cinnamon in honey, for example, followed by rice/almond/banana in molasses the next week. One reason doing it myself is appealing is that once I have the basics down I can vary them quite a bit to avoid getting bored with a particular version.

Sort of like bread - I have my basic wheat and my basic rye recipes and do endless variations on them. (still haven't had much luck making my own crackers, though - probably need a higher oven temp than what I've tried)

[General Zod]

You might be able to make do with some sort of cheap slap-chop thing, but hand grinding all the ingredients would be really exhausting.

[Broomstick]

Yes, I know. I've done it. Don't worry, I know what I'm getting into.

[Isolder74]

It is sort if like bread. My bars is a basic bare-bones recipe that can be easily modified. Now you don't want to mess with the nut butter part(other then using other nut butters) as that is the glue holding the bars together. I suppose you could get by with using melted caramel instead but I'd be very careful trying that.

As far as the mix of cereals and grains, as long as there is a similar amount to them to the glue, then you will be fine. Of course the more straight grains you use the more glue you might need to hold it all together. Also keep in mind melted chocolate can take the place of up to 1/3 of the glue and the bars still work if you want to try fully chocolate granola bars. Much more then that and they get too sticky.

Really my recipe is just a good ball park to start with and is perfectally cusomizable.

Unless, of course I want them to melt, right?

Right! See above. Other than m&m's of course!

[Elheru Aran]

Sounds like you have an adequate grasp of what's needed to be done (chop up stuff, mix, bake, cut into bars). The main issue might be how to keep them. Lots of little ziplock bags, or perhaps just a neat roll of wax paper and tape?

[Isolder74]

Sounds like you have an adequate grasp of what's needed to be done (chop up stuff, mix, bake, cut into bars). The main issue might be how to keep them. Lots of little ziplock bags, or perhaps just a neat roll of wax paper and tape?

Glad press and seal wrap. Press and seal It keeps itself sealed and the bars moist until you open them. I've got this all figured out from lots of practice. I've tried small ziplock bags but then the bars tend to slowly go to crumbs.

[Zaune]

No, seriously, I use a mortar and pestle. That was the original "food processor".

Even for coffee?

[muse]

No, seriously, I use a mortar and pestle. That was the original "food processor".

Even for coffee?

For that I use a thick plastic bag and a hammer. Come to think of it, I use a thick plastic bag & hammer for many things.

[Broomstick]

It is sort if like bread. My bars is a basic bare-bones recipe that can be easily modified. Now you don't want to mess with the nut butter part(other then using other nut butters) as that is the glue holding the bars together. I suppose you could get by with using melted caramel instead but I'd be very careful trying that.

Don't really care for caramel. I do have a (relatively) inexpensive almond butter that's my go-to substitute for peanut butter these days (damn food allergies!).

Sounds like you have an adequate grasp of what's needed to be done (chop up stuff, mix, bake, cut into bars). The main issue might be how to keep them. Lots of little ziplock bags, or perhaps just a neat roll of wax paper and tape?

Small batches, plastic wrap, and the on-going hunger of the household.

No, seriously, I use a mortar and pestle. That was the original "food processor".

Even for coffee?

Don't drink coffee, don't care for it - problem solved

Although yes, you probably could mortar-and-pestle roasted coffee beans but if I was into coffee I'd probably either buy it pre-ground or get an old-fashioned hand-cranked grinder.

[FireNexus]

For snack bars, I strongly recommend minimizing sucrose/fructose. Every study I've read indicates those are the sugars that lead to real health problems. For mine I use brown rice syrup. Not as sweet, but not bad and an interesting flavor. I'm also a fan of tart cherry juice concentrate, which has sugar but packs a big flavor punch compared to its sugar content. Corn syrup is also acceptable if you don't want to spend the money. A little stevia like truvia can be added. Fuck me if I know a good ratio, but there's probably somewhere you can do the math to bring it up to sucrose/HFCs sweetness, which should also minimize the bitterness and give you the right mouthfeel. If D-psicose turns out to not be weirdly unhealthy, it might turn out to be a good addition once it reaches market given its apparently positive impact on blood sugar.

If you want to add fiber, oat bran and gum Arabic are cheap and won't make it taste like shit.

[FireNexus]

Molasses, like tart cherry juice, also has a highly favorable flavor-sugar ratio. Using it with the corn syrup or brown rice syrup is also advisable. All sugars are empty calories, but fructose seems to have nasty effects on the liver/pancreas that are above and beyond its calories.

[Broomstick]

Since I do most of the cooking around here from scratch we actually have very little frank sugar in our diet. Other than dessert type things - cookies, brownies, etc. - and tea we don't add sugar to anything (and I started brewing my own tea for lunch and packing it from home because commercially available ice teas taste nauseatingly sweet to me, I really don't use much). So the amount in one or two bars is unlikely to have a negative impact on us. Oh, OK, the bread we use is commercially produced and yes, it has added sugars (just try finding some without these days...) but I just don't have the time to bake every loaf we need. I'm the one eating 4-8 slices a day (four so far today, and today is only half over), the spouse maybe has a single sandwich or a slice as a snack.

Granted the spouse is diabetic, but that's due to an injury to his pancreas, not being overweight or eating too much sugar or whatever. He's also a big boy who manages his diet well enough to keep his doctor(s) happy and his test numbers where they should be for optimum results. He budgets for a small amount of sweet stuff in his diet, which is allowed and OK'd by his docs.

Really, we're so crunchy-granola around here it's not funny - days go by without eating meat, lots of vegetables, whole grains... A little sugar isn't going to hurt us. Might even help me - I've been losing weight slowly over the past year and half even on a 3,000 calorie a day diet. Didn't mind losing the first 5 kilos but I can't keep that up indefinitely. Yeah, I'm a little active.

[Isolder74]

I wouldn't use cherry juice unless I was making the bars with dried cherries as nt chunky bits. The flavor of that is very jarring to certain things you could end up mixing into the bars. I do like the idea of mixing up trail mix as the grain mix of the bars making that intot he bars. The main problem I often get making these is rying to make them for people who are alergic to peanuts as many alternate nut butters might still give them a problem unless you check them very very carefully.

[Broomstick]

For better or worse, my peanut allergy is most definitely a problem with peanuts and a few other legumes, tree nuts are not a problem... except for peanut contamination, which I have to watch for, of course.

Allergies can be complicated, which is one reason why making my own, where I have control over the ingredients, appeals to me.

[Isolder74]

For better or worse, my peanut allergy is most definitely a problem with peanuts and a few other legumes, tree nuts are not a problem... except for peanut contamination, which I have to watch for, of course.

Allergies can be complicated, which is one reason why making my own, where I have control over the ingredients, appeals to me.

It's the contamination thing that often catches people off guard. They often don't think about it until they end up burned by it. Nutella for instance can't be asumed to be safe.

[Isolder74]

P.S. Let me know how the household likes my bars.

[Purple]

Random question. Could you explain how contamination could occur in this case? I am slightly confused. Like are various nuts not harvested in wildly different places, transported packaged and sold separately etc?

[Isolder74]

Random question. Could you explain how contamination could occur in this case? I am slightly confused. Like are various nuts not harvested in wildly different places, transported packaged and sold separately etc?

Let me put it simply for you. The fact I happen to have a jar of peanut butter on a shelf in my pantry means something I make might be a problem with someone with a peanut allergy. Even if I don't even touch the jar.

Peanut oil is the biggest offender for this sort of issue, and is why numorous products have a peanut allergy warning even if they don't have a touch of the nuts in them. Tree nuts act the same.