I’ve had really good luck with this before, so I did my spreadsheet method for this round. I took my recipe and five other similar ones and made a spreadsheet of ingredients and amounts. Depending on the ingredient I either took the minimum, maximum or rounded the average amount. And in some cases I then converted it to the healthier substitutions. We’ll see how it goes!
3 cups oats
1/3 cup honey
1/2 tablespoon molasses
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 to 2 cups nuts
1/2 to 1 cup chips
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup almond butter
1/2 cup peanut butter
1 egg
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup wheat flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp cinnamon
1/2 to 1 cup fruit
1 cup jam (only trying it in the middle of half the bars)
Beat wet ingredients in a larger mixer bowl.
Gradually beat in dry ingredients. I just toss in everything but the flour, then add the flour 1/4 cup at a time.
Stir in oats, then nuts, fruit and chips.
Spread dough into greased 15 1/2 x 10 1/2 jelly-roll pan. I used my 10 x 13 (4qt) glass baking pan.
Cook at 325°F for 30 – 40 minutes. Should be lightly golden.
Cool completely before cutting into bars.
Ok, ran out of almond butter and did 1/4 cup that, and 3/4 cup peanut butter and 1/2 cup olive oil. Also did two cups nuts (almonds, sesame, sunflower and flax seed) and about 1/2 cup of dried dates and 3/4 cup dried cranberries. And 1 cup butterscotch chips I found. Fresh from the oven they’re soft and chewy, but the nuts give them a lot of crunch.
Trying a wetter version tonight (2-4-08)
2/3 cup honey
1 tablespoon molasses
1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup almond butter
1 cup peanut butter
2 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp cinnamon
3 cups oats
1 to 2 cups nuts
1/2 to 1 cup chips
1/2 to 1 cup fruit
Changed 1/2 tablespoon to 2 teaspoons molasses, no flour, added 1/4 cup water. 2 cups nuts, 1 cup cranberries, no chocolate chips (but only because I didn’t know we were out!)
Tried normal jam on one section, topped everything with my granola cereal that was left and drizzled the non-jam section with honey.
I think these came out better. I would still reduce the flour by at least half and increase the nuts or add cereal or granola for more crunch. And for a chewier version I would leave out the flour totally and maybe double the wet ingredients. I would still add more nuts, cereal and granola though.