The Ultimate Granola Bar

     For many years now I have baked my own granola bars.   I decided that by making them myself not only would I have control over the "bad" ingredients like preservatives and sugar,  I could also add whatever yummy, healthy stuff I want.  So I tweaked a perfectly good recipe for dried fruit bars into a delicious granola bar formula that allows room for creativity.
     My granola bars call for 3 cups of add-ins which can be decided based on mood, availability or occasion.  The add-ins usually consist of dried fruits, nuts and occasionally a few chocolate chips.  One of my favorite creations is an "island" granola bar that has coconut, cashews, peanuts, dried papaya, dried pineapple, dried apricot and the usual spices are substituted with cardamom and ginger.  Seriously delicious.
     Also, my g-bars have half whole wheat and half all purpose unbleached flour.  I have tried several different flour formulations and found that this one has the best flavor and consistency.  If you really want to go all the way with whole wheat then you must add 2 T of butter or one egg, which is a not a concession I want to make in the fat and calorie content department because this recipe already has enough of the stuff.
     Yes, I know it's strange that I call for one and a half eggs.  It's not that hard to do just break an egg into a separate dish and use a spoon to break the yolk in half and toss it.  Then scoop out a little of the white and you're good.  This really is best, trust me I've tried it with one egg and it's way too dry, with two eggs it's too moist and doesn't bake consistently.
     Finally, please don't overbake these beauties because they might break tooth!  They will get way too hard to eat if baked too long, so even if they look like they need more time only bake for 30 minutes.

• 3/4 c unbleached all purpose flour
• 3/4 whole wheat flour
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/8 tsp nutmeg
• 1/8 tsp allspice
• 3 c mixed dried fruit & nuts
• 1/2 c or 1 stick unsalted butter softened to room temp
• 1 c packed brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla bean paste*
• 1 1/2 eggs
• 1 c & 1 tbsp old fashioned rolled oats-don't use the quick cook

     Mix flour, salt, baking powder, and spices. Toss 1 tbsp of flour mixture with fruit and nut combination and set both aside.  Cream butter and sugar with mixer on medium(use paddle attachment if you have one) until fluffy-4 minutes.  Add vanilla bean paste and egg, continue to beat until mixture is light-2 minutes.

     On lowest speed add dry ingredients, then oats, last fruits and nuts- scrape after each addition  and mix only until incorporated.  Press into a buttered 13x9 pyrex(you can use a metal pan but you might need to shorten bake time to 25 min) and bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.  Cut while still warm into 24-48 bars and individually wrap and freeze any you won't be using in 3 days.  I always freeze half of a pan before the family can gorge themselves and then pull them out as needed for lunches and after-school snacks.  They defrost in about an hour at room temp.

-Natasha

* I love this stuff!  Why bother splitting open a vanilla bean when someone has done it for you already?  You can see all the itty bitty beans in it so be forewarned if you use it in light frosting-I put it in my cream cheese frosting and I think it looks pretty. They stock it at SLT and it's around $11-13-well worth it and lasts a long time.