Baking Day

So today was Baking Day. I had 4 things that I wanted to make but I only made 2. I made 3 loaves of sandwich bread and homemade granola bars. Before dinner, I will make some cornbread to go with our chicken soup. Tomorrow I will make the banana bread.

So here is my second attempt at a chewy granola bar. My first attempt came out more like a bar cookie which tasted good but was not passing as a suitable substitute for store bought granola bar.

Here is how I made them:

1/2 cup packed brown sugar
2/3 cup peanut butter
5 tablespoons honey
1/2 cup applesauce (I used homemade which had some cinnamon in it)
2 teaspoons real vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups rolled oats
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter chips
1 cup rice krispies
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/3 cup finely chopped nuts (I used pecans that I had in the freezer)

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease an 11x15 inch baking pan. In a large bowl, stir together the brown sugar, peanut butter, honey, applesauce, and vanilla. In a separate bowl, stir together the oats, chocolate chips, peanut butter chips, cereal, nuts and wheat germ. Stir the dry ingredients into the peanut butter mixture until evenly coated. Press lightly into the prepared pan. Bake or 25 to 30 minutes or until slightly golden. Cool in the pan on a wire rack. Cut into 20 bars and wrap in foil or plastic wrap.

You can always substitute other things for the chocolate and peanut butter chips like raisins, dried cranberries, etc.

Here are my bars all wrapped and ready to eat!



Here is my sandwich bread. The house smells so good!



It rose very nicely. It is the perfect height for sandwich bread.



I am off to make some chicken soup for dinner and enjoy the snow that is falling.