So I’m going through a little bit of a granola bar baking phase thanks to the fabulosity of the pumpkin granola bars, that I have made several times at this point.  I decided to switch it up a little and try a granola bar recipe from Martha.  This recipe is great because it doesn’t have a million ingredients (sometimes granola ingredients can add up quickly), and it had all the best stuff: peanut butter, dried cranberries, sliced almonds, and oats!

I decided to make a couple alterations as usual.  First, I felt the need to add some mini chocolate chips, of course.  And second, I threw in some protein powder just for fun.  I will try protein powder in anything these days.  Don’t worry, I’m aware that I’m weird.  Martha’s recipe only makes an 8 x 8 pan’s worth, but since I was made these for a big group I tripled the recipe and used a full cookie sheet.

To make them more portable I ended up wrapping them individually!  They’re a great snack when you’re on the go!

Peanut Butter Almond Granola Bars

Adapted from Martha, yields about 24 bars depending how you slice them.

Ingredients

• 1 ½ cups old fashioned rolled oats
• 1 ½ cups sliced almonds
• 1 ½ cups dried cranberries
• 1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
• 2 “scoops” protein powder (optional)
• 1 ½ cups creamy peanut butter ( I used an entire 15 oz jar)
• 1 ½ cups light brown sugar
• 9 Tbs oil
• 1 tsp salt
• 3 egg whites
• 1 cup mini chocolate chips

Method

1. Preheat oven to 350.  Prepare a cookie sheet with parchment.
2. Combine the oats, almonds, cranberries, protein powder, and salt in a bowl.
3. In a small pot over medium heat, combine sugar, oil, and peanut butter.  Cook for about 5 minutes until brown sugar is completely melted.
4. Pour warm mixture over oat mixture.  Stir to combine.  When mixture is slightly cooled add egg whites and continue to mix to ensure that the eggs don’t cook.
5. Spread mixture out on parchment lined cookie sheet.  Sprinkle top with mini chocolate chips (if you add them earlier they will just melt into the mixture).
6. Bake 30-40 minutes until golden brown.