During our last trip to Boston my boyfriend took me to Flour Bakery. It is a local hot spot and mid afternoon the place was bumping. Literally. I kept bumping into people. Despite the crowd I had an amazing healthy salad with quinoa, tofu, roasted portobello mushrooms, and a scallion vinaigrette, which is not common to find at many bakeries, at least in Texas.
I thought I was also ordering a healthier sweet treat by choosing the Granola Bar as my dessert but it was too delicious. The bakery sells a cookbook but I didn’t want to buy it so googled the granola bars and the recipe is online.
Sure enough, two sticks of butter. Ah well. I liked it so much that I made the cab stop at the bakery on the way to the airport to get one more for the flight. Unfortunately they were sold out, so I made them when we got home.
My family does an annual cookie swap for the holidays and I’m always looking for baked goods with a long shelf life. Not easy to find. But these granola bars are better the second day than the first, better the third than the second and so on. All the flavors soften into one another becoming moist instead of hard.
And it’s all the things I like: honey, oats, coconut, millet, flax, apples, apricots, cranberries, spices, and butter. Lots of butter.
I found it handy to use a digital scale for weighing out the ingredients. If you have one, now is a good time to use it. Especially for the jam. Either that, or notice how many grams are in the packages of dried fruit and go from there. Using only measuring cups may yield inconsistent results with the jam.
Flour Bakery’s Granola Bars
Jam:
1 cup (80 grams) dried apples
1 cup (160 grams) dried cranberries
1 cup (160 grams) dried apricots
1/3 cup (70 grams) granulated sugar
2 cups (480 grams) water
Bars:
1 cup (100 grams) walnut halves
1 3/4 cups (245 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
1 1/2 cups (150 grams) old-fashioned rolled oats (not instant or quick cooking)
2/3 cup (150 grams) packed light brown sugar
2/3 cup (80 grams) sweetened shredded coconut
1 teaspoon kosher salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1 cup (2 sticks/228 grams) unsalted butter, at room temperature, cut into 8 to 10 pieces
6 tablespoons (128 grams) honey
3 tablespoons flaxseeds
3 tablespoons millet
To make the jam: In a medium saucepan, combine the apples, cranberries, apricots, granulated sugar, and water and bring to a boil over high heat. Remove from the heat and let sit for about 1 hour. Transfer to a food processor and pulse 8 to 10 times, or until a chunky jam forms. (The jam can be made n advance and stored n the refrigerator n an airtight container for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 1 month.)
Position a rack in the center of the oven, and heat the oven to 350 degrees F. Spread the walnuts on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, or until lightly toasted and fragrant. Transfer to a plate and let cool.
Leave the oven set at 350 degrees F. Line a 9-by-13-inch baking pan with parchment paper.
In the food processor, combine the flour, oats, brown sugar, coconut, salt, cinnamon, and butter and pulse about 15 times, or until the mixture is evenly combined. Dump the mixture into a medium bowl and drizzle the honey on top. Work in the honey with your hands until the mixture comes together.
Press about two-thirds of the mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan. Place the remaining one-third of the mixture in the refrigerator.
Bake for 10 minutes, or until light golden brown throughout. Remove the pan from the oven, spoon the granola jam on top, and spread in an even layer with the spoon or with a rubber spatula, covering the surface. Remove the reserved granola mixture from the refrigerator, and break t up with your fingers into a small bowl. Add the flaxseeds, sunflower seeds, and millet and stir to combine. Sprinkle the mixture, like a crumb topping, evenly over the jam.
Return the pan to the oven and bake for 50 to 60 minutes, or until the top is golden brown. Let cool in the pan on a wire rack for 2 to 3 hours, or until cool enough to hold its shape when cut. Cut into 12 2″ x 4″ rectangular bars for bakery style big boys, or 24 smaller normal person sized squares.
5 Comments
Megan
December 29, 2012These are absolutely delicious! Can’t wait to try ‘em out on my own
Jessie
December 29, 2012Hey! Glad you liked them! Let me know when you make them and how they turn out. xoxo
Nathaniel
December 29, 2012Those look great !
roger
January 18, 2014Any clue what to do with the walnuts? Maybe they’re for snacking?
Peggie
April 13, 2014The walnuts go in the food processor with the flour etc.
I’m not a big walnut fan so I used pecans instead.