How to Make Granola Bars (With Recipe!)

If you were wondering how to make homemade bars you'll love reading this post (And the mold that Mastrad has released!). Cereal bars are tasty, healthy, provide energy and are a perfect food to take everywhere (to work, school, when you're exercising or simply to carry in your bag for a mid-morning snack). Also, if you make the bars at home, you can control the amount of sugars and the quality of the ingredients, and they have that extra "I made them myself!" that is always an added pleasure, you can't deny it.

What excites us a lot is that a cereal bar mold has arrived that we love. It's well built, nonstick to make unmolding easy (and cleaning too...), it has capacity for 10 bars... and it's not silicone, which you already know we never recommend, for health reasons and because of that unpleasant taste it tends to leave on foods.

This new bar mold is from Mastrad, and it's also very easy to use: you make the mixture, put it into the different cavities, and bake. You can unmold it with the help of the tab included in the Set, which won't scratch the mold.

In addition, Mastrad has included with the mold a couple of perfect little boxes to take the bars with you or to put safely in the school bag, without breaking and ready to eat!

How to make cereal bars at home?

For the bars you need cereals, the filling, seasonings and some ingredient that besides flavor will bind and hold all the ingredients together. Here they are:

1. Cereals: usually rolled oats are used, or a cereal mix with oats (wheat flakes, rice flakes...).

2. A mix of dry ingredients to make the filling: here are some ideas so you can make your favorite combinations:

• raisins
• walnuts, hazelnuts or any chopped nuts
• coconut
• other dried fruits like apple, banana, strawberries, cranberries...
• shelled sunflower or pumpkin seeds
• chocolate chips

3. Seasonings: you can add salt, sugar (when caramelized it will also help stick the bars) and spices to taste (cinnamon, for example)

4. Some ingredients to help the mixture adhere and form the bar, such as:

• honey or maple syrup
• chocolate: you can add chocolate chips to the dry mix, which when melted will help the bar gain consistency, but you can also make your bar and cover it with melted chocolate, it will act as a chocolate base (eye-catching and delicious) and will give the bar structure.
• margarine or butter, added to the initial mixture will be, along with honey, what most helps to bring all the ingredients together.

I encourage you to see the recipe below to get an idea of how to prepare the bars, and little by little try your own combinations until you find your favorite.

Mastrad cereal bar making set

Classic cereal bar recipe

Ingredients

• 65 g of vegetable oil or melted butter
• 65 g of honey
• 100 g of rolled oats
• 65 g of "dry" mix of your choice (raisins, nuts, dehydrated banana...)
• Vanilla, cinnamon or gingerbread spice mix (optional)

Preparation

1. Preheat the oven to 160 ºC with circulating heat.
2. Mix the dry ingredients in a bowl.
3. Then add the honey and the oil (or melted butter) with a silicone spatula until you get a homogeneous mixture.
4. Fill the cavities of the bar mold with a spatula or with the presser included with the Set.
5. Bake for about 15 - 20 minutes.
6. Let cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
7. Unmold using the included tab.

Mastrad cereal bar making set

Notes

• If you want to prepare a sweeter version, after baking, dip one side of the bars in chocolate (melted in a bain-marie) dark, milk or white according to your taste, and let cool.
• You can bake at 140 g for 30 / 40 min, which helps preserve nutrients better.