I'm trying to eat less processed foods
Many foods that I enjoy I just buy from the store and get what I'm given. Granola is one of those foods that I enjoy in my fruit parfait or as a breakfast cereal. I also enjoy granola bars when I go for long walks with my wife and she often takes them on her long hikes.
However, processed foods from the store often have preservatives to improve their shelf life or various other additives to make them look nicer or have better mouth feel.
Today I was thinking what if I made my own granola. It didn't look that hard but I've never done it. Then I looked at an Easter chocolate rabbit that I really shouldn't be eating and thought....Hmmm....Maybe I can make a chocolate granola bar.
I will admit that using Easter chocolate kind of defeats the purpose of avoiding processed foods! However, it seems like a waste just to throw it away and make my own chocolate.
As a side note. This is just the base form of the recipe. The beauty of making your own is that you can add different ingredients later to make it more nutritious and less processed. I'll be doing that in the future, but need to keep it simple the first time around 😁
Now, I'm changing up the format of this post. I'll post the recipe first with basic "How to" information and no pictures. That way if I ever come back to this post I don't have to scroll and scroll for the information on cooking. After that I'll post the images and me actually making the food.
Basic Steps
Overall, it is very simple. To make the granola there are two parts.
Dry Ingredients
- 2 Cups of Oats
- 1/3 cup of sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
- 1/3 cup of pecans (roughly cut)
- 1/2 cup of whey protein powder
- 1 teaspoonful of cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoonful of salt
Wet Ingredients
- 1/2 cup of Corn Syrup
- 1/2 cup of Canola Oil
- 1 tsp of vanilla extract
First Step -- Mix Dry Ingredients
- Weight out all the dry ingredients
- Whisk all the dry ingredients together
Second Step -- Mix Wet Ingredients
- Measure out all the wet ingredients into a saucepan
- Add gentle heat (200W on my induction stove, low on a typical oven)
- whisk together until the liquid thins
Third Step -- Mix it all together
- Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients
- Mix together with a spatula until the dry ingredients are evenly coated
Fourth Step -- Bake
- Place on a parchment lined baking sheet evenly
- Bake at 300F for roughly 30 minutes
And now you have granola
Making the chocolate coating.
For the chocolate coating I just took a metal bowl and placed it in a water bath inside a crock pot. I added the easter chocolate (380g) and 2 tbsp of shortening and let it melt on high heat.
Once the chocolate shortening mix had melted I added it to the finished granola and mixed until evenly coated.
Then I spread out the chocolate / granola mix on the baking sheet (on top of the parchment) and placed into the fridge to cool.
When it solidified after about an hour or so I took it out, cut it into squares and a makeshift granola bar had been made. Well, some granola bars along with some chocolate granola clusters (the crumbs left over 😉)
And now for the photo's
There I am with all the ingredients. I like like making sure everything is out on the counter before I start in that way I don't get part way though and find out something is missing.
There they are. Now a few notes. My wife bought the protein powder but no one likes it so I'm using it to get rid of it. The corn syrup my son bought for a class project 4 years ago and again its been sitting around forever. I'm certain there are better ingredients than those but sometimes just find creative ways to clear out the cupboards!
Now originally I was only making granola but I found this chocolate rabbit and have a big batch of shortening I picked up when it was on clearance 80% off. The idea to make a chocolate bar was an afterthought to clear out the cupboard as well.
Let's get rid of that rabbit!
And I start the melting process first because crock pots are not exactly known for speed.
The nice part of the granola is there is very little cutting/chopping. Unfortunately I only had whole pecans so I decided to roughly shop them up before throwing in the mix of dry ingredients. Side note: I really wish I didn't have to appear in these images...but community guidelines mean there I am (sigh).
Measure the dry ingredients
Then whisk them all together
Dry ingredients are all mixed. Now its time to more on to the wet ingredients.
Then add a little heat
Whisk it all together (and again, wish I didn't need to be in some pictures)
Add to the dry mix once it is nice and thin
Use a spatula to fold it all together
Then place evenly on a baking sheet (the parchment paper helps with cleanup)
And bake for 30 minutes at 300F
Finished Granola -- hot in the oven
Now by this time the chocolate mix has melted. A bit of a stir to make sure its all mixed up.
Add the chocolate to the granola (which I put into a big mixing bowl)
Fold it all together
Spoon it out to a baking sheet and press together
Allow to cool (I put into the fridge to speed up the process). Then cut into bars and here is the final product
Added to a chocolate tin for a bit of presentation
Parting Thoughts
Overall the finished product was quite tasty but really didn't hold together that well. It is more of a granola cluster than a granola bar. If I make it again I think I'll use was paper at the end step and press it down with a book or other heavy object to force the chocolate together with the granola to make a tighter bar.
As for the ingredients? I think I would use a different sweetener. The corn syrup worked but perhaps something with a little more flavour. I'm thinking maple syrup. As for spices...cinnamon is good but perhaps some cardamon or nutmeg for a bit more depth of flavour. Coconut oil might also be a good substitute for the canola oil. Also I think it might be a little more solid bar if I omitted the shortening. I might also try to add a bit of "hidden" nutrition into it. Spinach powder could likely to undetected and add a bunch of vitamins to the mix. I may also try some powdered apple peel as a spice with some dried apple pieces to give it a little more depth of flavour.
Final note for the curators or 
I've already posted about baking powder biscuits. How significant should the change be before I can post it again as a different recipe? My original recipe was very bland but I changed it to incorporate spinach, okara, spices and more. It's still a biscuit but now savour instead of basic.
The same for this granola bar. This is the very base version. How much should change before I can call it a "Version #2" and be allowed to post again. I'm thinking more spices. More compression. Different chocolate base. More nutrition from spinach and apple. But don't want to run afoul of community guidelines.
Any thoughts?
Finally.
Thank you to anyone who made it this far.
Please feel free to leave comments and thoughts. I'm always looking for ways to improve on my recipe's....especially since this was my first attempt at this :)