Dark Chocolate & Tart Cherry Granola Bars

I saw this recipe and thought what a great idea and then completely forgot about it!  Thanks to the magic of Facebook and Pinterest, I rediscovered the recipe.  Homemade healthy granola bars that my girls and I would love and are easy to throw in my purse to eat when you need a snack.  What could be better!  After reading the reviews I made some tweaks and came out with a healthy, yummy, chewy, chunky and portable granola bar.  I will definitely be trying my hand at granola bars again.  I'm thinking of doing a cinnamon maple oat one next.  These are seriously so easy to make and you'll get a more nutritious bar for much less bank.

Recipe Modifications

• used 1/4 cup canola and 1/4 cup olive oil
• used 1/3 cup chocolate chips and 1/2 cup chopped dried tart cherries
• cooked in glass dish and bars were about 2.5 inches thick instead of 1.  made 20 bars
• cooked for 20 minutes and let cool hour.  They crumbled when cut so baked additional 25 minutes. smushed down when I got them out of the oven to really compact.  Then cooled for 30 minutes.  Then put in fridge until they were cold.  After that they cut great!  Next time just bake for 40, smash to compact and cool in fridge before cutting

Ingredients

4 Cups Old Fashioned Oats

1/4 Cup Whole Wheat Flour

1/2 Cup Shredded Unsweetened Coconut

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Chocolate Chips*

1/2 Tsp Kosher Salt

1/2 Cup Canola Oil

1 Tsp Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Honey

Recipe

This recipe comes from one of my favorite blogs weelicious

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Oatmeal, Chocolate Chip and Pecan Cookies

We made these on Sunday afternoon.  The girls are getting cabin fever from the cold Ohio winter this year.  So Cadence asked daddy what would you like me to bake you?  He wanted chocolate chip cookies.  A quick search and these sounded so good!  They are absolutely a keeper and we will be making again.  They aren't even that bad for you as far as a cookie goes.  The next time I make them I might even reduce the sugar more so I can steal a few more cookies ;-)

Recipe Modifications

• Added 1/4 cup white sugar instead of 3/4 cup
• Added 3/4 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup, will try 1/2 next bake
• Used pasteurized real egg product instead of egg, 1/4 + 1/8 cup
• Used regular chocolate chips instead of the mini chips
• Made cookies 2 tbsp, making 18 instead of 3 dozen

Ingredients
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour (about 5 1/2 ounces)
1 cup regular oats
3/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter, softened
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg
1/4 cup chopped pecans, toasted
1/4 cup semisweet chocolate minichips

Recipe

This recipe comes from my favorite source Cooking Light. Not diet food, but food that is conscious of health without losing any flavor. Food for life! 

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