Homemade granola for my sista Sophie!

So I was going to blog about Gabriel’s cake tonight and post the fruit roll-ups that my friend Roula asked me for, as well as the apricot and pistachio fekkas I made for my friend Aziz, but I got side tracked. A happy side track.

I bumped into my awesome friend Sophie this afternoon while picking Olivia up from school. I thank God every time I see her. She is one of a few people in this world who make me smile the nanosecond I see her and makes me forget all my woes in an instant. She is one of the kindest, most sincere people I know and I am grateful to have her in my life. So, Sophie sees me and asks me if I have a recipe for granola bars. The answer is NO. BUT my heart skipped a beat GRA NO LAAAAA …I have always wanted to make granola and she just gave me a reason to try!!!!

After chitchatting until there was no one left in the parking lot, I packed Olivia into the car and headed straight for the supermarket. I picked up a bag of rolled oats, some salted shelled pumpkin seeds and some honey and headed home. I had no recipe yet but I had a plan. After some googling I found the following recipe which I doubled and tweaked, the result was delish.

INGREDIENTS                

  • 2 cups of pitted deglet nour dates; processed in the food processor until it forms a soft ball
  • 3 cups of rolled oats; toasted in a 350 degree oven for 15 minutes until golden brown
  • 1 cup of salted shelled pumpkin seeds
  • 1 cup of dried cranberries
  • 1 cup of semi-sweet chocolate chips

Mix all the above ingredients in a bowl and add the following

Combine ½ a cup of honey and ½ a cup of smooth peanut butter in a saucepan over low heat until combined and not too hot

Combine all the ingredients until well mixed and uniform.

Pour the mixture into a dish lined with plastic wrap. Depending on the thickness you are looking for, the smaller the dish the thicker the bar.

Compact the mix, cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Remove from the dish and cut into bars.

**Half a dozen went into a Ziploc for Sophie and at least a dozen went into another Ziploc bag and into the freezer for us. Hubby came home just as I was cutting the bars and fell in love with me all over again.

**Bonus: I got to test drive my Cuisinart food processor for the first time. How I lived without this beauty is a mystery. LOVE IT!

SOURCE: Minimalist baker