Easy Granola Bars

This recipe is SO easy, versatile, and FAST. I’ve made them so often that I have this memorized! My husband loves these. I mix in 3½-4 cups of whatever he wants (even a ½ cup of Optimum Nutrition’s plain cooking whey to create ‘power’ bars) and a pinch of spice. He usually goes for nuts and raisins. I use a 15×10-inch jelly roll pan (JRP-a cookie sheet with edges) to create commercial-sized snack bars. (If you make this in a 9×13, consider dusting the pan with oat flour.) When I use a 17×15-inch JRP, I add an extra cup of oats. I oil the JRP pretty heavily to prevent sticking. I've skipped the butter and also used fat-free sweetened condensed milk successfully. Stir for about 4 minutes to dampen the dry ingredients. I use wax paper to press the mix to the edges and corners. When it comes out of the oven 20 minutes later, I immediately use a pizza wheel to cut the bars. Then I seal the JRP with tin foil and (very quickly) flip it onto the table and remove the JRP to cool. This creates a crisp bar that he can run with. We store them in zip lock snack bags—unless we’re traveling, then a gallon freezer bag works. I love the hint from BEVERLYS55 dated 1/15/2006 (put the unopened can of sweetened condensed milk in a bowl of hot water while you mix the dry stuff, open it and add the melted butter and it will be easier to mix). Thank you, Aliceyn, for contributing this recipe. My husband, his co-workers, and our friends appreciate it!

I don't actually want to rate my recipe, just offer some changes. This is the original recipe that I put in, but what I actually do is use 3 cups oats and 3-4 cups of mixed'whatever'. The more you experiment, the more you come up with your own preferred recipe. I've used Reeces' Pieces instead of choc. chips for a different flavour. Trail mix usually makes up at least 1 cup of my recipes.

On my first attempt to make these I used regular rolled oats instead of quick and they had a raw oat taste because the oats were too thick to cook in that amount of time, without burning the condensed milk. So on my second attempt, because I could see the potential, I doubled the recipe and poured it on to a jelly roll pan that was lined with a non-stick silpat mat. These little mats are so slick. Nothing sticks to them. My kids loved these chewy type of granola bars and they are truly easy to make in minutes. The hardest part is waiting for them to cool. I have used fat-free condensed milk also, but I think they taste better with the regular condensed milk.

This is so easy, and easy to make it as good-for-you as you want. I use freeze dried edama beans and soy nuts and any dried fruit I have around, and my husband loves it. Hint: put the unopend can of sweetened condensed milk in a bowl of hot water while you mix the dry stuff,open it and add the melted butter and it will be easier to mix.

These are fantastic. I line a 10'x15' cookie sheet with parchment. I omit the butter and use low fat condensed milk. I reduced the coconut to 1/2 cup. Deleted the choc chips. Added raisins, cranraisins, dried papaya, peanuts, almonds, soy nuts, pumpkin seeds and some rice krispies. I cut the recipe into 40 bars. My family love them. My husband suggested toasting the oatmeal a bit first. I will try that next time.

This is a fantastic recipe! I leave out the butter and use skim condensed milk and it turns out great. This is a quick, easy, versatile recipe that has turned our house into granola bar-junkies. Thanks for the recipe!

Unbelievable good! I enhanced the nutritional value by adding about 1/2 cup wheat germ. My kids loved them and I am going to use them for my daughter's "snack sharing" day at school. You can make all kinds of different mixes. today i made craisin, raisin and butterscotch chip bars.

I had high hopes for this recipe -- I really love granola bars. Unfortunately, I was disappointed. The flavor was good (although I probably would reduce the amount of chocolate chips), but texture was not. The bottoms of the bars were slightly mushy. (I think moisture formed at the bottom of the pan as they cooled. I'm not sure how to fix this problem, since the recipe said not to take bars out of pan until fully cooled.) Would not make again. :(

Really good when you use flavored oatmeal. I use about one cup (2 packages) of maple brown sugar flavored instant oatmeal and use two cups of the regular. Of course, then I leave out some of the other ingredients and add other things like raisins. I've also tried it with banana-flavored oatmeal, which was good. Delicious. My little brother loves them. It's awesome because you can experiment with different flavors!

Be sure to let this cool completely or it will fall apart. Chewy and delicious.