Sunflower Granola Bars Food

SUNFLOWER GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 325*F. Lightly grease a 8" square baking pan.
• In a large mixing bowl, combine the oats, sunflower seeds, flaxseeds, pistachios, raisins, and coconut in a large bowl. Set aside.
• In a saucepan, combine maple syrup, peanut butter, butter, and sugar. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the sugar is desolved and the mixture is smooth. Stir in the apple juice, vanilla, and baking soda, and remove from heat.
• Pour into the oats mixture and stir until well combined. Transfer the mixture into the prepared pan. Place a piece of plastic wrap on top and top with another pan or a book that will fit inside the baking pan to weigh it down. Use your hands to press down on the weight firmly and evenly so that the mixture spreads evenly in the pan. Remove the weight and the plastic wrap and bake for 20 minutes. Cool to room temperature, then cover and refrigerate until firm. Use a sharp knife to cut into 12 bars and store them in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

WHOLESOME WALNUT AND SUNFLOWER SEEDS GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees, spray an 8 inch square baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment paper. Spray again and set aside.
• Place the oats, wheat bran, walnuts and sunflower seeds on a cooking sheet. Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until lightly toasted. Then set aside.
• Place the honey in the microwave for about 15 seconds. Just to loosen up a little. . In a medium mixing bowl, add the honey, oil and vanilla along with the salt and SweetLeaf.
• Add the toasted dry ingredients and mix gently to combine. Add in the dried cranberries.
• Pour into baking pan and with wax paper, press the mixture to make sure you level out and covers the pan.
• Bake for about 15 to 17 minutes. You will see the top will be lightly browned. Try not to over bake.
• Place on a cooling rack. Let cool down at least 1 hour. Cut into 16 squares and enjoy!

GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Butter a 9 by 9-inch glass baking dish and set aside. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
• Spread the oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, and wheat germ onto a half-sheet pan. Place in the oven and toast for 15 minutes, stirring occasionally.
• In the meantime, combine the honey, brown sugar, butter, extract and salt in a medium saucepan and place over medium heat. Cook until the brown sugar has completely dissolved.
• Once the oat mixture is done, remove it from the oven and reduce the heat to 300 degrees F. Immediately add the oat mixture to the liquid mixture, add the dried fruit, and stir to combine. Turn mixture out into the prepared baking dish and press down, evenly distributing the mixture in the dish and place in the oven to bake for 25 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely. Cut into squares and store in an airtight container for up to a week.

SUNFLOWER-CHERRY GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Spread oats into an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake at 400° for 15-20 minutes or until lightly browned. Meanwhile, spread almonds and coconut into another ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Bake for 8-10 minutes or until lightly toasted., In a Dutch oven over medium heat, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Cook and stir for 2-3 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Remove from the heat; stir in peanut butter until combined. Add the raisins, cherries, sunflower kernels, and toasted oats, almonds and coconut., Using a metal spatula, press mixture into an ungreased 15x10x1-in. baking pan. Cool to room temperature. Cut into bars.

OAT AND NUT GRANOLA WITH SUNFLOWER SEEDS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 300°F. Combine old-fashioned oats, flour, golden brown sugar, almonds, walnuts, milk powder, sunflower seeds and salt in 13x9x2-inch metal baking pan. Whisk vegetable oil, 1/2 cup water, honey, vanilla extract and maple extract in medium bowl to blend. Add to dry ingredients in pan and stir to coat well. Bake until granola is golden and crunchy, stirring frequently, about 45 minutes. Cool completely. (Granola can be prepared up to 2 weeks ahead. Store in airtight container at room temperature.)

CRUNCHY GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Adjust an oven rack to the middle position and heat the oven to 375 degrees. Line an 18 by 12-inch rimmed baking sheet with aluminum foil. Combine the oats, oil, and salt in a large bowl and mix until the oats are evenly coated. Transfer the mixture to the baking sheet (save the mixing bowl for use in step 3) and spread into an even layer. Bake, stirring every 10 minutes, until pale gold, about 30 minutes. Remove the oats and lower the oven temperature to 300 degrees.
• Place the nuts in a food processor and process until coarsely chopped, about ten 1-second pulses. Place ¾ cup of the nuts in a small bowl and process the remaining nuts until finely ground, 20 to 30 seconds. Add the finely ground nuts to the bowl with the coarsely chopped nuts and set aside. Combine the honey and brown sugar in a small saucepan over medium heat and cook, stirring frequently, until the sugar is fully dissolved, about 5 minutes. Stir in vanilla and cinnamon, if using, and set aside.
• Combine the oats, nuts, and honey mixture in a large bowl and stir with a large rubber spatula until the oats are evenly coated with the honey mixture. Transfer the mixture to the prepared baking sheet and spread in an even layer. Wet the spatula with water and forcefully pack the mixture into a very flat, tight, even layer. Bake until golden, about 45 to 50 minutes. Cool, in the baking sheet, on a wire rack for 10 minutes and cut into 2 by 3-inch bars with a chef's knife. Remove the foil from each bar before serving. Cool completely before wrapping and storing.

GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• In a large mixing bowl combine oats, sunflower kernels, coconut, flax seed meal, oat bran, dates/fruit and nuts.
• In a small sauce pan, melt margarine over medium-low heat.
• Add corn syrup, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and honey; stir to combine.
• Increase heat to medium and stir occasionally.
• Meanwhile spray a 13x9 baking pan with non-stick spray.
• Measure out a sheet of foil large enough to cover pan.
• Spray foil with non-stick spray and set aside.
• Cook corn syrup mixture until it comes to a full boil; let boil for one minute.
• Remove from heat and pour over oat mixture.
• Stir to combine (mixture will be very stiff).
• Transfer mixture into prepared pan.
• Cover with prepared foil and PRESS FIRMLY.
• You want the mixture to be as compact as possible.
• I've even used a small cutting board to help press the mixture firmly& evenly (don't be afraid to stand on it!).
• When mixture is as firm and even as you would like, remove foil& let mixture cool.
• Cut into bars.
• Note: Don't be afraid to add, remove and/or substitute ingredients, such as chocolate chips, wheat germ, raisins, anything goes.
• I'd love to get some other suggestions!

CHEWY BLUEBERRY SUNFLOWER SEED GRANOLA BARS

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line an 8″ x 8″ pan with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides (see first photo in blog post for reference). Coat the parchment paper with non-stick spray or lightly grease with butter or oil.
• In a large bowl, stir together the oats, brown sugar, oat flour, salt, sunflower seeds, coconut, and blueberries.
• In a small microwave-safe bowl, heat the sunflower seed butter and butter at 50% power until melted, about 30-40 seconds. Remove from microwave and stir in the maple syrup, light corn syrup, water, and vanilla extract.
• Pour wet ingredients over dry and toss until well-incorporated and evenly crumbly.
• Pour into baking dish and press very firmly and evenly with clean hands so that the bars mold to the shape of the pan.
• Bake for 30 - 40 minutes until set and golden-brown on top.
• Remove from oven and allow to cool for 20 minutes. Place in refrigerator for an additional 30 minutes to help make sure the bars set. Remove from refrigerator and, using the parchment paper "handles," lift bars from baking dish and place onto a cutting board. Peel sides of parchment paper down and, using a sharp serrated knife, cut into 16 squares.
• Bars keep for 3 - 4 days at room temperature stacked in an airtight container.