Homemade Granola Bars

These granola bars are for you. 

I made these for you because they are so dog-gone good, you just have to have them. 

And they're healthy. 

And they're not from a box, from some company in a place that you've never heard of. 

You can pronounce all of the ingredients. 

For real. 

I also made these for you because I've been so bad about posting, it's horrible. I could list out all the reasons why, but the only one that's really interesting is my recent article for the Portland Farmers Market which kept me quite busy. 

So I'm sucking up, and hope it works. 

You can make these delicious treats in about 30 minutes, start to finish. You can even wrap them up individually and store them in cool little glass jar so you can see your craftiness every time you go in the kitchen. 

You're so good.

You will want to chop up some of these oats in a blender or food processor before combining them into the rest of the ingredients. I use a Vitamix blender that I got from my in-laws for Christmas (Best. In-Laws. EVER.), but you can go ahead and use whatever you've got. The oats don't mind. 

Homemade Granola Bars

2/3 cup dry roasted, salted almonds

1/4 cup honey

3/4 cup juicy dates, Medjool or Barhi

1 tsp cinnamon

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 cup dried fruit (cranberries, cherries, or raisins)

  Lay a piece of parchment on a cookie sheet or baking dish that will fit in your freezer and set it aside. Starting in 1/2 cup batches, pulse the oats in a blender or food processor until just broken up. Do this until all 2 1/2 cups are chopped and resemble a course meal, set aside. 

   Roughly chop up the almonds and dates and set aside. In a large bowl, combine the oats and cinnamon. Using freshly washed and cleaned hands, add the honey and dates to the oats and combine using your hands until good and sticky. Once combined, add the dried fruit and almonds and transfer to the parchment. Using your still-clean hands, press the sticky oat mixture into the parchment into an 8" x 12" rectangle, about 1/2" thick. Cover with plastic wrap and freeze for about 15 minutes. Remove from the freezer and transfer to a cutting board. Cut bars into evenly sized sections, about 1" wide and 3" long. Wrap in plastic wrap to store.