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

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Prep Time 15 minutes 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…