Aspen Power Bars

My husband has been doing CrossFit Training for the past several months and has really tried to cut out processed foods.  He asked that I try to find a recipe for homemade granola/power bars.  Luckily, I love to try new recipes and will cook him anything that he wants from scratch!  He liked them so much that he grabbed two immediately after I cut them into bars!

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups plus 2 tablespoons rolled oats
1/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons brown sugar
Heaping 1/2 cup coconut flakes
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup (4 ounces) nuts or sunflower seeds
3/4 cup powdered milk
1/2 cup (2 ounces) raisins
1/2 cup (2 ounces) dried cranberries
3 tablespoons butter
1/4 cup honey
1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon peanut butter (chunky is best)
1 1/8 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tablespoons plus 1 teaspoon raspberry jam

Directions:

Heat the oven to 400 degrees F.

Grease a 13-by-9-inch baking pan.

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, brown sugar, coconut, salt, nuts, powdered milk, raisins and cranberries.

Note: You can substitute some of these ingredients to your liking.  For example - I did not use raisins and added some chopped white chocolate that I had in my cupboard.

In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium-high heat. Stir in the honey, peanut butter, vanilla extract and jam until melted and fully incorporated. Remove from heat.

Pour the melted ingredients over the dry ingredients and stir until fully mixed.

Press the mixture into the pan, compressing the mixture as much as possible. Bake until golden , 12-19 minutes.

Remove from heat and cool completely on a wire rack.  Once cooled, run a knife along the edges to loosen from the sides.  Then invert the 9x13 pan onto a large platter or cookie sheet.  Cut into bars with large knife. 

This recipe is linked to:





Each of 16 bars: 262 calories; 7 grams protein; 33 grams carbohydrates; 3 grams fiber; 13 grams fat; 5 grams saturated fat; 7 mg. cholesterol; 22 grams sugar; 108 mg. sodium.

LA Times