Bready Or Not

Warning: no actual recipe here. This is a work in progress, but I want to keep you in the loop…

I’ve recently discovered my favorite granola bars. They’re Cascadian Farm Granola Bars (disclaimer: that’s an affiliate link. I stand to make a tiny amount of money if you buy after clicking), and I’m pretty sure I know why they’re my favorite: brown rice syrup. Love it! One of the best-selling products that we make at work also uses brown rice syrup. On its own, it does have a distinctly rice-y flavor; in baked goods, it’s  sweet and complex and delicious, and not particularly rice-y. I’d never bought it for home use before, but I decided to change that, because I want to see if I can make something at home as delicious as the bars I buy.

I made a batch the other day; and since I was using brown rice syrup (a good vegan alternative to honey), I decided to make them vegan. They’re good, but they could be better. I overbaked them – trying to compensate for our cool oven, but unfortunately, I over-compensated. Also, I was waiting for the bars to get brown, but I hadn’t considered that they were already kinda brown from molasses and wheat flour, so the change would be subtle. The overbaking would be easy enough to fix, but I also want to tweak some ingredients. So, I’ll be doing another batch another day. Here’s what I made this time:

And here’s how I’m going to change them:

• More chocolate chips!
• More almonds!
• More brown rice syrup!
• Maybe a little less Earth Balance
• Add salt

…yes, on the whole, I’m going to make them less healthy…but more delicious. I see granola bars as a relatively healthy treat, not a health food per se. I know there are recipes out there for truly healthy granola bars. If that’s what I were going for, I’d probably leave out the chocolate chips altogether (or reduce them). What I want is something a little sweeter, a little more flavorful, and I think I can accomplish that without going totally over into junk food territory (and as you know, there are plenty of times I explore that territory). So, stay tuned…and in the meantime, tell me: what’s your favorite granola bar, and why?