Oh, the possibilities!

I’m always looking for a way to trick my husband into eating breakfast. He’s just not hungry in the mornings, but about mid-morning, he’s ready for a snack. Occasionally I’ll make muffins, but when I saw this recipe for granola bars, I knew it was worth a shot. Success! He’s been taking them to work, eating them, and liking them! What’s not to like?

They’re basically a cookie for breakfast. As soon as these came out of the oven, I started thinking of how I would tweak the recipe next time…not that the recipe isn’t great, but I love to tweak. These bars use a plain granola with mixed dried fruit and shredded coconut. But what about adding some cinnamon and using dried apples instead? Or substituting chocolate or butterscotch chips for the coconut? Or using dried cherries and toasted walnuts? The possibilities are endless!

Chewy Coconut-Granola Bars

  • Cooking spray
  • 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour
  • 2/3 cup all-purpose flour
  • 1/3 cup whole-wheat flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
  • 1/4 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 tablespoons fat-free milk
  • 2 large eggs
  • 1 1/2 cups low-fat granola without raisins
  • 3/4 cup chopped dried mixed fruit
  • 1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Coat a 13×9-inch baking pan with cooking spray; dust with 2 teaspoons all-purpose flour. Lightly spoon 2/3 cup all-purpose flour and whole-wheat flour into dry measuring cups; level with a knife. Combine flours, baking powder, and salt in a bowl; stir with a whisk. Combine sugar, oil, milk, and eggs in a large bowl; beat at high speed of a mixer until smooth. Add flour mixture, beating at low speed until blended. Fold in granola and fruit. Spoon into prepared pan. Sprinkle with coconut. Bake for 20 minutes or until golden. Cool on a wire rack.

Makes 20 bars.

Source: Cooking Light magazine.

11 responses to “Oh, the possibilities!”

  1. Those look and sound great! Nice job.

  2. Wow I so missed these in the magazine – they look SO GOOD!

  3. Thanks, guys! Joe, they’re from my 2001 annual, so you may have seen them…years ago!

  4. I never thought of making my own granola bars! Cool! And I can see how they would be great with a lot of different variations.

    P.S. My husband doesn’t eat breakfast either!

  5. ooh im inspired to make these! ill have to dig around for that issue to see what the nutritional info is like. thanks for sharing this recipe!

  6. Beth, if you have any other husband-breakfast ideas, let me know! Tanvi, if you’re interested, the recipe is available with nutrition info on the Cooking Light website, under the same name as I posted. 🙂

  7. It’s nice to know that I’m the onlyone who was had to do back flips to get their husband to eat breakfast. After years of effort, I finally have him converted. He just brings a bagel and fruit along with him, but if I see something that might work for you I’ll let you know.

  8. Hi,

    I recently saw your blog for the first time and just wanted to let you know it looks great!!!

    I have an old recipe from my Grandma which is great for breakfasts as it’s made out of cereals. If you’d like to try it I’d be more than happy to give it to you. Would post it here but don’t want to do the wrong thing!!

    Lucy x

  9. Thanks, we love these Granola Bars !

  10. Ha ha!! You saw my blog!!

    The comment was inspired by your amazing blog so keep up the good work!!

    The recipe is:
    2 cups of All Bran cereal, 2 cups of Sugar, 2 cups of sultanas, 2 cups of milk. Put these in a bowl and soak for at least a few hours (or overnight). When it has soaked add 2 cups of Self Raising Flour and bake in a small loaf tin for 1 1/2 hours on gas 3, going up to gas 5 for last 20mins.

    We recently tried a sugar free version where we missed out the sugar and made up the quantaties in cereal and fruit. Quite honestly I couldn’t tell the difference!! I’ve never experimented but you should be able to use different fruit and low fat milk. You can make it using Weetabix too.

    Hope you like it, it tends to taste best the day after it was made if it makes it that long!!

    Lucy x

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