Peach Walnut Granola Bars

Continuing with the Mark Bittman theme, I made granola bars last night based on the ones in  How to Cook Everything Vegetarian.  I’m not sure why I felt the pressing need to do so; I’m sure we have a giant Sam’s Club box of Quaker Chewy Granola Bars in the basement and I like those just fine.  But the recipe really intrigued me, so I went for it.

Bittman offers several variations on his No Bake Granola Bar recipe, and I combined a couple of them.  It should be mentioned at this juncture (its surprising that it hasn’t come up sooner, really) that I am pretty close to obsessed with peaches and peach flavored things.  So, given all the options, I had to select dried peaches as my fruit of choice, but any dried fruit will work.  Now, without further ado,

Peach Walnut Granola Bars

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 15 mins

Servings 1 8x8 pan

Ingredients

  

• 1/4 cup oil I used Canola; Bittman recommends grapeseed or corn
• 2 and 1/4 cups granola whatever looks good to you, I used the plainest I could find
• 3/4 cup walnuts chopped (granola and nuts combined should total 3 cups; adjust amounts to taste)
• 1 and 1/2 cups dried peaches or other dried fruit

Instructions

 

• Using a food processor, combine the peaches and oil until smooth.  Add water as necessary to achieve this.  I felt like I needed to add a lot of water to get my peaches to form something close to smooth.  I'll spare you the photo, because it doesn't look appetizing.
• Warm the peach mixture in a small saucepan on the stove so that it becomes even softer.
• Mix the granola and walnuts in a large bowl.  Add the peach mixture a bit at a time and coat all the granola.
• Press into an 8 or 9-inch square pan with your fingers. Trust me, I tried pressing them with the spatula and they did not stick together.
• Cool in the refrigerator.  Cut into squares and enjoy.

Notes

Adapted from Mark Bittman's How to Cook Everything Vegetarian

They’re pretty tasty.  I don’t eat cereal, so I’m thinking this is going to be breakfast for the next few days.  I’m already brainstorming the other variations I want to try–apples, chocolate, cranberries, coconut…