Tuesday, January 13, 2015

TwD: Granola Energy Bars

I have actually been baking along with Tuesdays with Dorie on time, but I keep getting distracted and not blogging about the recipes. This post will bring me up to date for Baking, Chez Moi.

I was not overly excited to make Granola Energy Bars for the very reason that they appealed to other people. I get the whole "overdid it in December, start fresh in January" thing, and I mostly agree, but a granola bar would still be the last thing I would pick when told to choose from a book of indulgences. And this is why I suck at diets.

That said, these granola bars were simple to make, and were exponentially better than store-bought. I've never tried to make granola bars before, and I loved being able to select my own add-ins. I used dried apricots, cherries, craisins, and dates, and also roasted some pecans, pine nuts, and cashews to round out my slivered almonds. I used light corn syrup instead of buying a jar of brown rice syrup, because I am officially in use-up-the-pantry mode. We'll move to our next duty station (Norfolk, VA) next summer, so we need to start eating through our stored food. Dorie says that brown rice syrup does the best job of binding the nuts and the oats, but the corn syrup worked just fine.
Breakfast is served. Don't mind the crumbs.
I brought these granola bars to my book club meeting. They couldn't really compete with the mountain of bacon, the quiche, or the brownies that other members provided. In a battle of bacon vs. a granola bar, the bacon is always going to win. I've been enjoying the granola bar leftovers all week.

My husband brought half the batch to a breakfast potluck at work. He didn't bring any home, and he did report that his boss, who recently had a baby and is watching what she eats, came to his office to say that it was the best granola bar she'd ever had. Yay!

My husband's input on the bars: "It may just be a granola bar, but it's a damn good granola bar." I think that basically sums it up.

Now, to catch up on the two recipes I failed to post about.

A few weeks ago, some Jewish friends invited us over for a Hanukkah party. This seemed like the perfect opportunity to make The Rugelach That Won Over France without having to eat the entire batch. I was a bit intimidated by all the steps, and by early reports from other participants indicating that they were having trouble cutting the dough. Armed with the knowledge that I didn't want the dough to get too stiff, I only chilled the completed logs for about a half an hour before I sliced and baked them. My biggest problem was that I didn't roll the logs tightly enough, so a lot of the filling fell out when I sliced them. They turned out okay, though. I didn't love the dried-fruit filling. I might try this again with a raspberry jam filling. They vanished quickly at the party, and my friends gave them their "Jewish stamp of approval." Ha!

We hosted Christmas dinner for a group of our dearest friends here in Napoli. The Gingerbread Buche de Noel was a most impressive way to end an excellent dinner. This was such a time-consuming project that I doubt I'll ever make it again, but I'm happy that I did it this one time. Everyone seemed to love it. For my part, I loved the cake itself and the marshmallow frosting. I think I made a mistake by using salted butter in the filling. No one but me thought so, but I thought the filling tasted salty. It balanced out when every component was on the fork, but when I only got cake and filling, I didn't like it. Again, I think the problem was that I used salted butter, so it's probably my own fault.

I was too busy celebrating to take a picture of the cake. You'll just have to take my word for it.

16 comments:

  1. Darned good granola bars indeed! I know I'll make smaller batches of these on a regular basis. I hope you get some interesting meals out of using your pantry.

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  2. These are really good (eating one now with my morning coffee) - I used corn syrup (and golden syrup) too and it worked just fine!

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  3. I agree with your husband's sentiments on the granola bars:) I loved the rugelach but I did mine in the traditional triangle rolls. The filling was too much and I would cut back on it next time. We enjoyed the Buche de Noel but we thought the filling was too heavy, butter and cream cheese. It was a challenge but don't think I will make it again.

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  4. Ha! Maybe next time I'll try and top these bars with bacon? Sounds like they turned out great and were well appreciated in the end.

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  5. Well if you get a compliment that these were the best granola bars ever, I would say it was a success! They look really nice and your rugelach looks nice as well. I like the idea of your healthy offering at the buffet...I would have welcomed that for sure! :-)

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  6. It certainly sounds like they were a success! They sound delicious with the variety of nuts and fruits you included.

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  7. Your husband has good taste! Good to know that one can use corn syrup. Btw, I had the same issue with my Buche de Noel.

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  8. Nice catch up post. That's been my biggest issue, too--I bake the goods, but can't always seem to get them blogged. That's my goal this year. ;) It was certainly nice to make these simple granola bars after last Buche de Noel recipe--definitely a labor of love.

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  9. Your granola bar add-ins sound good. I really liked this recipe. Your rugelach look good too - I think the dryness of the filling made it hard to cut them, and I think I'd add jam next time too.

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  10. Your granola bars sounds wonderful with the mixture of nuts. I've used corn syrup too and it turned out great. The rugelach is making me wish for some right now! I had issues with the slicing, but they tasted delicious!

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  11. Like you, I do more cooking than blogging. I keep dreaming of the day I have my act together and cook and blog, in advance even, and then visit everyone's blog and leave witty and pertinent comments. We all need our dreams, don't we? Your bars look great!

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  12. I'm with you on wanting to bake something more indulgent from the cookbook. However, by photographing the bar next to an apple, it made the granola bar appear indulgent. I feel better.

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  13. Ha, I love Leah's comment above about photographing the granola bar next to the apple! Too funny. After the holidays I was ready for some healthyish food and this bar was perfect. I am ready to make something with chocolate though and I just couldn't wait so I added chocolate to my bars.
    cheers

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  14. Love your husband’s comment…they were damn good! We loved them too! Yours look lovely!

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  15. These will make an encore performance in our house. They truly are the best granola bar ever (that I have had).

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  16. Wow, that's a lot of cooking/baking and it all looks good. I loved each and everyone of those recipes, especially the Rugelach.

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