Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I’m so glad peanut butter isn’t what it used to be. The kind I used to eat is still available – you know the stuff – with added sugar, salt and oil and sometimes a bunch of other stuff that has no business being in food – but thankfully, so is the unadulterated kind that consists simply of ground peanuts in a jar.

The downside to using “peanuts only” natural peanut butter, is that it requires refrigeration. And lots of stirring. And no matter how furiously I mix it, I always seem to end up with a blob of rock hard peanut butter at the bottom of the jar.

And because no one has the energy in the morning to take a chisel to it, to pry some loose for a piece of toast, the jar sits in the fridge with just a little bit left.

Is anyone else bothered when a new jar of something is opened before the last dregs from the old jar have been used up? It drives me bonkers. Luckily, I usually think of a way to turn it those remaining spoonfuls into something delicious and at the same get rid of the thing in the fridge that is mocking my sense of kitchen order.

So, after extracting the peanut butter from the jar, I decided to make some peanut butter granola bars. It’s no coincidence that the recipe is very similar to the recipe for Perfect Granola.

Peanut Butter Granola Bars
Makes 10

3 cups of oats
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt
1/2 cup of currents or raisins*
1/2 cup of walnuts, chopped*
1/3 cup of dried cranberries, chopped*
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds
1/4 cup flax seeds, ground
1/2 cup peanut butter (‘peanuts only’ type)
1/4 cup of grapeseed oil (or another neutral flavoured oil)
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup of maple syrup
1/2 teaspoon of vanilla

Preheat oven to 300 degrees F. *Chop fruit or nuts into small pieces. (i.e. I even chop up the cranberries and raisins into smaller pieces.) If the pieces are too large, the bars will fall apart. Flax seeds can be ground in a blender. Put oats, salt and chopped fruit, nuts and seeds into a large bowl and set aside.

In a sauce pan, add peanut butter, maple syrup, honey and vanilla.

Stir constantly on low just until it starts to boil.

Then immediately take it off the heat and pour over oat mixture. Mix well, making sure everything is well coated. Press into a greased 9x9 inch square baking dish, packing it down as firmly as possible with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 30-35 minutes until the edges start to brown.

Let bars cool in the pan completely before cutting.

Keep in a covered container for up to a week.