Cranberry Nut Granola Bars

I had no plans whatsoever last Sunday and I was pretty happy about that because it means two things: 1) I will be staying in and doing everything in my PJs, and 2) I will have a chance to bake! And cook! Two things I extremely enjoy doing but haven't had time to do so in a long time.


I wanted to bake something healthy, something that I can snack on without feeling too guilty (I was really tempted to make my favourite chocolate chip cookies but I stopped myself). Skipping pass the muffins, cookies, and cake recipes on allrecipes.com, I found this Cranberry Nut Granola Bars recipe which was perfect! 


A great thing about these granola bars is that besides the oats, you can basically substitute any of the nuts in the recipe with nuts you like or just whatever you can find in your house. Unfortunately, as there was none of these ingredients in my boyfriend's house, I did eventually have to change out of my PJs and go grocery shopping O_o


Anyway I'm seriously loving these Cranberry Nut Granola Bars right now and am totally addicted! They are such good snacks because they are so filling; all I need is to eat one and it fills me up right away, making it a great snack for that long stretch between lunch and dinner~

Cranberry Nut Granola Bars - Adapted from allrecipes

(Yields 24 bars)

Ingredients

• 2 cups quick-cooking oats
• 1 cup old-fashioned oats
• 1/2 cup hulled pumpkin seeds
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1 cup mixed nuts
• 1 cup dried cranberries
• 1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

Note: I couldn't find hulled pumpkin seeds at the grocery store so I substituted it with 1/2 cup of walnut pieces.

Instructions

1. Preheat an oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Line a 13x9-inch pan with lightly-greased parchment paper; an inch or so of parchment paper should stick up on 2 sides to form lifting handles.

2. Mix the quick-cooking oats, old-fashioned oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds, mixed nuts, or cranberries, and sweetened condensed milk together in a bowl

3. Make sure everything is evenly coated.

4. Spread into the prepared pan, evenly pressing into the corners and out to the sides. It's easy to press the oat mixture into the pan using wet hands or a wet spatula. The water keeps the oat mixture from sticking to you or your utensil.

5. Bake in the preheated oven until the edges are golden brown, 20-25 minutes, using slightly less time for chewier bars and slightly more time for crunchier bars.

6. Allow the bars to cool for 5 minutes in the pan before using the parchment paper to life them from the pan. Use a sharp knife to cut into bars.

7. Let the bars cool completely and store in an airtight container.