Homemade Granola Bars

make homemade granola all the time at Tastebuds and at home, it’s a great snack and one batch last quite a long time in the freezer. One day as I was looking through one of my many cooking magazines I came across a recipe for homemade granola bars. That recipe called for karo syrup and peanut butter, but gave me great inspiration to tweak my homemade granola recipe to these delicious bars.

2 cups  Old fashion oats

½ cup   sliced almonds

½ cup  chopped pecans

1 cup    shredded coconut

3 tbsp.  butter

2/3 cup honey

1/4 cup light brown sugar

1 1/2 tsp  vanilla extract

1/4 tsp  kosher salt

¼ cup   chopped pitted dates

½ cup dried figs

¼  cup  chopped dried apricots

¼ cup   crasins

¼ cup raisins

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray a 9×13 pan and line with parchment paper.

Mix oats, almonds, pecans and coconut together and bake on a sheet pan 10-12 minutes, occasionally stirring, until light brown in color. Transfer to large mixing bowl. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees.

Place butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt in a sauce pan over medium heat and bring to a boil. Cook for one minute, occasionally stirring and then pour over oatmeal mixture.

Add dry fruit and mix well.

Pour mixture into prepared pan, pressing evenly. Bake for 25 – 30 minutes, or until golden brown. cool 2 – 3 hours before cutting. Serve at room temperature.