Looking for a healthy breakfast or just something on the go? These tasty, healthy and natural granola bars will do the job, be it morning or after lunch.

If granola bars had been invented centuries ago, humanity wouldn’t have had such adventurous history looking for their survival at every possible corner when traveling abroad.

For thousands of years people were bind to their food sources. If for any reason the surrounding food supply depleted, human settlements needed to move or die. A lot had changed with the invention of agriculture as people could reliably managed to feed themselves given that they didn’t move around much.

We sacrificed freedom for survival which actually was a blessing for the less adventurous type who were happy not to risk their life for every bite of food they put in their mouth. From the seed of food surplus civilizations quickly began to sprout, creating powerful societies that quickly ended the hunter gatherer lifestyle for everyone around.

The following centuries passed relatively undisturbed. There were, of course, improvements in the way humans toiled the soil or cultivated their plants, but nothing changed in a way they consumed food. Not even wars that made large number of people moving around inspired changes in the way we stored and distributed food.

Truly no one really cared about how and what we eat until Columbus ventured into the open sea and found that without Vitamin C scurvy will not let pass that many sailors over the Atlantic. Of course, they didn’t know anything about vitamins for another couple of hundred years but some of the clever ones figured out ways to stay alive.

Unfortunately, the spreading of information wasn’t as fact paced as it is today so many didn’t get the memo about the healing properties of lemons and oranges nor storing them for long journey was possible.

When the Spanish figured out that lemons and oranges are essential for sear faring, they planted all the world full of them wherever they lowered their anchors. Of course, not everyone was convinced about the healing properties of fresh food nor the proper way to prepare it for the best results.

In 1867 the Brits finally figured out how to preserve Vitamin C in the lemon juice without alcohol and they introduced it to their navy as Rose’s lime juice hence the name for all the Brits “limey”. Interestingly enough, it still took a good couple of years to clear the mystery about scurvy and put its remedies in place.

Would it have been any different if they had known about granola bars? Not like oat contained any Vitamin C in itself that would have prevented scurvy but some dried fruit could have saved them from the suffering. Given that they had used the right kind of fruit like rose hips or lychee.

It’s a pity that granola bars weren’t invented until 1970 and it was created as snack (rather than a survival pack) that appealed for the health conscious. As most of these were and they are still stuffed with sugar, they are hardly better than a regular chocolate bar.

Not the homemade ones though! Making granola bars at home provides us with the liberty of skipping on unhealthy ingredients as much as we please.

Amazingly enough, granola bars aren’t hard to make at home. Not like anything made commercially would be a challenge in a half heartedly prepared kitchen but granola bars won’t require even that. An oven with a baking tray will be necessary but that’s about it.

Making granola bars is as easy as preparing overnight oats but yields a completely different dining experience with the added benefits of having something healthy on the go.

Ingredients

½ lb / 250g roughly chopped nuts and seeds of choice (almond, walnuts, peanuts, pumpkin seeds…)
4 tablespoon / 60g Butter
1lb / 500g Rolled oat
3 tablespoons / 60g Honey or sweetener of choice
1 tablespoon / 15g Vanilla extract
⅞ cup / 200ml Double cream
3 oz / 100g Dried fruit of choice (raisins, chopped dates, cranberries…)
2 egg whites

How to make Granola bars

Melt butter in a big saucepan. Mix oat, nuts, sweetener and vanilla extract in a big bowl then pour mixture into the saucepan and roast the oat until it gets a slight golden brown color.
Pour double cream into the saucepan and cook it in low heat for a couple of minutes stirring the mixture constantly.
Separate egg whites from yolks and put them into a mixing bowl to beat them until hard peaks form.
Mix dried fruit and egg whites with the oat mixture evenly.
Put it on a parchment paper lined tray and spread it evenly. Press it down as much as possible.
Shape out the stripes of the granola bars before placing tray in the oven.
Put tray in a 350°F / 180°C preheated oven for 15 minutes or until granola bars turn golden brown. Mind the bars at the sides as those tend to brown more quickly. Take them out one before they burn to oblivion.
Take tray out and leave it to cool down completely.
Serve it with milk or other warm drink or keep them in an airtight container for later.

Enjoy!

Oat is not only delicious but one of the healthiest among the carbs out there. Don’t hesitate to dive deep into its pleasures:

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