Cranberry Spice Granola Bars Recipe

We just love easy food solutions and that's why we bring you another healthy homemade granola bar recipe. This one is filled with nuts and dried fruit! Of course, you can always do some substitutions to your taste. Have these as a home snack or pack them for light lunch snack or energy boost.





Ingredients:
- "1 tsp. butter
- 1/2 cup slivered almonds
- 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
- 1 cup dried sweetened cranberries
- 1 1/2 cups rolled oats 
- 1 1/2 cups brown rice crisp cereal (sold at Whole Foods and other “natural” stores, or substitute Rice Krispy cereal)
- 3/4 cup brown rice syrup (sold at Whole Foods and other “natural” stores)
- 1/4 cup Grade B maple syrup
- 1/2 tsp. salt
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp. freshly ground nutmeg
- 1/4 tsp. ground cardamom
- pinch ginger


Method:
1- Preheat the oven to 325°. 
2- Spread the almonds and pecans on a cookie sheet and toast them in the oven for 6 – 8 minutes, or until they start to brown a bit.

3- In the meantime, grease a 9 x 13 baking dish with the butter and set aside. Now, mix the oats, rice cereal, cranberries and toasted almonds and pecans in a big bowl.

4- In a small saucepan, heat the syrups, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, cardamom, ginger and vanilla extract over medium-high heat, stirring to avoid burning. Once the syrups come to a light boil, continue to cook for an additional 3 – 5 minutes until the syrup begins to thicken, then pour it over the oats and nuts. Mix everything together so that the syrup evenly coats everything in the bowl.

5- While it’s still warm, pour the contents of the bowl into your prepared baking dish. Using a rubber spatula, pat everything down so it’s nice and compacted. I like to place some parchment or aluminum paper over the top and really press down so that the bars don’t break apart when you eat them.

6- Let cool to room temperature. You can also put them in the fridge for a bit since this’ll make cutting easier. Cut them into square or rectangles as you please.

Makes about 18 granola bar-sized bars."

Source: 
Bitchin Camero: http://www.bitchincamero.com/2008/10/homemade-cranberry-spice-granola-bars/