Allergen-Free Granola Bars

So I'm doing some experimenting with Allergen-Free baking. I found this recipe on the Whole Living website (there is a video too). My daughter goes to school with a little girl who has celiac disease and I want to be able to send her to school with treats that all the kids can enjoy.

This is my first experiment with peanut-free, tree-nut-free, wheat-free, gluten-free, diary-free and egg-free baking. This was a good recipe to start out with because it was super simple. I was able to find all the ingredients at Ingles. They were quite delish. After 24 hours left defenslessly against two kids, a husband and a babysitter, there are only 4 left (okay, they can't take all the blame, I think I had 3 of them).



FYI, These were a little soft when left out on the counter, but nice and chewy. Rice Crispies now makes a gluten-free product. Bob's Red Mill makes Gluten-Free oats (I'm finding out that even though oats are by themselves gluten-free, there is a risk of cross-contanimation if they are processed in a facility that may also process products with gluten). The mini-chips are by Enjoy Life. The honey is an organically grown honey I bought from the farm that provides my CSA box.

I will definitely be doing more allergen-free experimenting in the future - stay tuned!


NO NUTTIN' CHOCOLATE CHIP GRANOLA BARS
Makes about 16 bars

Nonstick cooking spray
1 3/4 cups gluten-free quick-cooking oatmeal
1 1/4 cups gluten-free crisp-rice cereal
1/2 cup mini gluten-free semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/3 cup lightly packed light-brown sugar
1/3 cup vegetable oil
1/3 cup honey

Spray an 8-by-8-inch baking dish with nonstick cooking spray; line baking sheet with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on all sides. Set aside.

Place oatmeal and rice cereal in a large bowl; stir to combine. Set aside.

In a medium saucepan, mix together brown sugar, oil, and honey. Place over medium-high heat; bring to a gentle boil. Cook, stirring, for 1 minute. Remove from heat and add to oatmeal mixture; stir until oatmeal mixture is fully coated and well combined.

Evenly pour oatmeal mixture into prepared baking dish; sprinkle with chocolate chips. When mixture is cool enough to touch, press down into pan. Let cool to room temperature. Cut into 16 (1-by-4-inch) bars. Granola bars can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 week, and frozen up to six months.

Homemade Granola Bars

I found this on the web a while ago. The munchkins love it. I've tried to fiddle with the recipe to make variations to reduce the sugar or create other flavors, but they results were either too dry or too soggy and they didn't hold their shape. Sorry, I can't find the original link and I can't figure out how to post pics to the blog. But this is a good one to pack and take for lunches or snacks on the go. I hope you like it.

2 C Oats
3/4 C wheat germ
3/4 C sunflower seeds
1 C nuts (chopped small)
2/3 C brown sugar
1/2 C honey
4 T vegetable oil
2 t vanilla extract
1/2 t kosher salt
approx 8 oz dried fruit

Preaheat oven to 400. Combine oats, nuts, wheat germ, seeds in a jelly roll pan and toast for 10-12 minutes, stirring every few minutes so they don't get burned. Meanwhile prepare a glass baking dish or jelly roll pan (about 11x13) by lining it with waxed paper and spraying with nonstick spray.

Put the brown sugar, honey, oil, vanilla and salt into a saucepan and bring to a simmer, stirring constantly. In a large bowl, combine the dry and wet ingredients, and the dried fruit. Mix everything really well, you want to make sure the glue gets all over everything.

Dump the mixture out into the prepared pan and spread as evenly as you can. Next, use a piece of waxed paper to press the mixture. Press REALLY HARD all over the granola. You want to make sure your bars don't fall apart when you cut them. Allow to cool completely (2-3 hours).

Turn the bars out onto a cutting board, peel the waxed paper off and pressing down with a large chef's knife, cut into whatever size bars you'd like.