Have you tried Nature Valley granola thins? The crispy squares of chocolate-covered deliciousness?
We have, and my kids quickly became addicted. But they cost nearly $3 for a box of 10 little squares, which lasts approximately 4 days around here.
I’ve had great success with my chewy chocolate chip granola bar recipe, but I was less confident about my ability to duplicate granola thins at home, because I wasn’t sure how to get them to bake up so nice and crispy. After reading the ingredients list on the box about a half dozen times, and promising Bee (who asks for granola thins in her lunch every day) that I would figure out how to make them at home, I finally decided yesterday to quit procrastinating and just try.
I started with my chewy granola bar recipe, and altered it to closely resemble the ingredients on the Nature Valley box. I also upped the oats to 3 cups, and pulsed them a few times in my food processor. My reasoning was that the granola needed to be less moist, in order to obtain the desired crispiness, and I’ve found that ground up oats hold together better and make a less crumbly bar (if you examine the back of a Nature Valley granola thin, you’ll see very few large oat flakes). I usually bake chewy granola bars in a 9×13 pan, but I wanted these to be crunchy, so I used a 15x10x1 baking sheet instead. The result was, in a word….perfection. (“Gum would be….perfection.” I know at least one of my readers is going to recognize where I got this).
My husband, who is on a diet, said they were so good that he could eat the entire pan, so I had to put them in the freezer so he wouldn’t see them. Bee, who is addicted to granola thins, said they were “awesome.” So, I consider this recipe a success! And here’s how I did it:
3 cups rolled oats, pulsed in a food processor. You don’t need to grind them really fine - just enough that the oat flakes are small.
1/2 cup sweet, shredded coconut
3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1 cup flour
3/4 tsp salt
1/4 cup extra crunchy peanut butter, melted (you can also sub nuts of your choice, but I didn’t have any)
1/4 cup honey
1 egg, beaten
1/2 cup canola or vegetable oil
1/2 tsp vanilla
12 ounces semi-sweet chocolate chips (for melty chocolate coating)
DIRECTIONS
1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Generously grease a 15x10x1-inch baking pan.
2. In a large bowl, mix together the oats, coconut, brown sugar, flour, and salt. Make a well in the center, and pour in the melted peanut butter, honey, beaten egg, oil and vanilla. Mix very well (it’s best to just use your hands). Pat the mixture evenly into the prepared pan, making sure that it’s pressed together well, especially along the edges and in the corners.
3. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, until the granola begins to turn golden at the edges. Allow to cool.
4. In a microwave-safe bowl (or double boiler), heat chocolate chips, stirring every 60 seconds, until melted. Spread melted chocolate over baked granola. Allow to cool and harden. Cut into squares.
