and today on Hilah Cooking we're talking how

to make granola bars.

I'm gonna show you a chewy granola bar recipe

that uses maple syrup and some different nut butters

to create a delicious treat that is great

for packin' in the lunchbox or packin' in your butt.

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Okay, first we're gonna talk a little bit about ingredients.

I've got some rolled oats here.

These are regular, old-fashioned rolled oats,

not quick oats or anything like that.

And then I've got some finely shredded coconut.

You can see it's like really tiny little shreds,

and it's unsweetened.

And we're gonna go back here to the stove.

We're gonna add a little bit of toasty-ness

by pouring our oats into a skillet over medium heat.

Just a dry skillet.

We're gonna shimmy around for a little bit,

get a little bit of color on those oats until they start

to smell kinda nutty and toasty and yummy.

Dump those into a large bowl,

and then we're gonna do the same thing with the coconut.

The coconut only takes 20, 30 seconds.

It goes really really fast.

Just be sure not to burn it.

Then, dump that into the bowl with the oatmeal.

Now, in the same skillet, we're gonna make sort of our glue.

It's gonna hold these granola bars together,

so I'm gonna add some maple syrup.

I'm using some peanut butter and some tahini

which is a sesame paste because I love the flavor

that that gives the bars, but you can use any nut butter

of your choice.

We're gonna add a little bit of coconut oil.

And just cook this together until it starts to simmer

and the coconut oil is melted.

Then you can add a little bit of vanilla

and a little bit of salt if you like.

And, then there's our glue,

so now we can put these granola bars together.

Once everything's toasted and everything else is melted,

we're gonna add the rest of our dry ingredients

to this bowl.

I'm gonna use some crunchy flax cereal,

but Rice Krispies also works if you can't find this.

I think any kind of puffed cereal would work,

and then I'm gonna add a couple tablespoons

of toasted sesame seeds.

Whoops!

(laughs)

And the flavor of the sesame with the peanut butter together

reminds me a lot of those Nature Valley granola bars

which I love, so this is like those, kind of.

So, that's in there, I'm gonna grab my glue.

Pour this over it, and I'm not adding any actual nuts

or anything 'cause it makes them kinda hard to slice,

but I did use crunchy peanut butter

which I recommend 'cause a little bit of crunch

in there is really nice.

Just mix it up, and I also don't put fruits in here.

I think you could add some dried fruit if you like.

You'd have to reduce the amount of something else,

so you'd use like less cereal or less coconut

to make it work out, but try it.

I kinda feel like granola bars are really great

to experiment with because even if it doesn't

all stick together and turn into a bar,

you can still crumble it up, and you have granola.

So, it's not like, you know...

It's definitely not a lose-lose.

It's more like a win-win.

Okay, once everything is coated and shiny

and there's no dry pieces, I'm gonna press it

into a pan.

I've got a square dish here that I've lined

with some parchment paper.

You can use foil if that's what you have.

Okay, and now the trick to getting them really

to stick together is you want to use some kind

of rubber spatula.

You can use your hands if you want to lube

up your hands a little bit.

And you just press it in really really firmly,

and try to get it as even and flat as you can.

Okay, once it's all mashed in, we're gonna put it

in a 325 degree oven for about 20 minutes

until it's a little bit brown around the edges

and the center feels kind of firm when you press on it.

Then, we'll pull it out, let it cool for about five minutes,

then use your parchment paper or foil little handles

to sort of pull it out and let it cool for another

10 minutes or so before you try to cut it.

Alright, about 15 minutes later,

these are still slightly warm,

but we can go ahead and cut them into bars.

I usually do eight bars, like one down the middle

and then four across.

But if your kid is a really young kid,

you might want to do twelve bars,

and they'd be little squares like this.

There we go, so you can wrap 'em up,

store 'em in the fridge.

They're super delicious.

If you like this recipe,

check out my brown bag lunch playlist

for more ideas for stuff to pack in your kids' lunch,

and I also did an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie

which is kinda like this, but less healthy, okay.

Mmm, you get nice and toasty on the bottom,

and the rest is really chewy and mmm.

Oh, these are so good.

Thank you so much for watching.

Don't forget to click that little button

to subscribe if you haven't already,

and I will see you next week with another cooking video.

Bye.

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