You know how I told you about that weekend a few weeks back that my mom, my sister and I baked a TON of stuff? Well this is another one of the products that came out of that weekend. Heavily adapted from an Ina Garten recipe, these granola bars only have about half of the orignial ingredients that she included in the original recipe. We wanted pure and simple, great tasting granola bars with only sliced almonds and dried cherries for added flavor.

These bars were a breeze to make. Just toast oatmeal and nuts together until lightly browned, then transfer to a large bowl. On the stove in a small saucepan make a syrup by melting together your wet ingredients (butter, honey, brown sugar, & vanilla). Pour that mixture over your oats and nuts, stir and then incorporate your dried cherries into the mix.

With a prepped sheet pan-lined with parchment, pour the mixture onto the pan. Spread evenly with wet hands or spatula. Top the granola with parchment and press down with a sheet pan so that the granola is tightly packed. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for at least 2-3 hours then cut into bars with a serrated knife.

Easy right? Well, once the bars are cooled and cut, then comes the fun part…packaging! We bought a roll of cellophane and green tulle from the Container Store and used those to wrap each granola bar individually. For each bar we then handwrote labels and adhered them to the package. And voila! Homemade granola bars that you can be happy having for a snack, since you know everything that went into them (no scary additives), plus they’re as cute as can be!

Homemade Granola Bars (Heavily adapted from Ina Garten)

4 c. old-fashioned oatmeal

1 1/2 c. sliced almonds

3 T. unsalted butter

2/3 c. honey

1/4 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed

1 1/2 t. pure vanilla extract

1/2 t. kosher salt

1/2 c. – 1 c. dried cherries

Preheat oven to 350ºF. Butter an 8 x 12″ baking pan and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal and almonds onto a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl.

Reduce the oven temperature to 300ºF.

Place the butter, honey, brown sugar, and vanilla, and salt in a small saucepan and bring to a boil over medium heat. Cook and stir for a minute, then pour over the toasted oatmeal mixture. Add dried cranberries and stir well.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Wet your fingers and lightly press the mixture evenly into the pan. Top granola with parchment and press down with same sized pan. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes until light golden brown. Cool for at least 2 to 3 hours before cutting into rectangle. Wrap.