Peanut Butter Granola Bars

My sister told me she had too many walnuts so I could have some if I wanted a few. Free walnuts, heck yeah. What can I make that requires walnuts…. I made cookies last week and ate a few too many so I thought that I should try something slightly healthier this time. So I decided to make granola bars. I found a recipe in a cookbook called Perfect Light Desserts (they didn’t stay light long, I added a few things).


Not only was I making dinner for two nights but Liz had been talking to me so I was a little distracted and forgot to take pictures. I will have to take pictures next time I make them.

I changed the recipe a little to fit the fact that I am incredibly picky when it comes to things that are good for you. These are the ingredients that I used.

2 cups oatmeal
1 cup chopped walnuts
½ cup chocolate chips
½ cup peanut butter chips
2 large egg whites
⅓ cup vegetable oil
¾ cup brown sugar
¾ cup chunky peanut butter
1 teaspoon cinnamon
½ teaspoon salt
I was going to add peanuts but I forgot to throw them in so this is the non peanut version (though I did use chunky peanut butter so a few peanuts did make it in).

Preheat the oven to 325º. Fill a pot of water with a little water (you’re going to use it as a double boiler so use just enough water so that it doesn’t touch the bottom of your bowl when the bowl is set on top of the pot). Line a 9 x 13 pan with tinfoil and spray it with Pam.


Combine the oats, nuts, and chips in a bowl. Combine all the other ingredients in a different heatproof bowl. Put this bowl over the boiling water stirring until the sugar is melted. Stir the two mixtures together and pour into a 9 x 13 pan. Spread the mixture evenly in the pan. Bake the bars for 30 minutes.


Let it cool then flip them onto a cutting board, peel the tinfoil off, and cut the bars. When I say let them cool, I mean that in a do as I say not as I do kinda way (I have a patience problem that I’m not getting help for but acknowledging the problem is the first step...right). They get a little crumbly if you don’t let them cool first, though to be honest they might do that any way I haven’t tried the patient method yet.

These are amazing. They are kind of a mix between a granola bar and a cookie. But granola bars are healthy so that's what I'm going to call them. I think I like this eating healthy thing.

Update: I made these again with a few changes. I dropped the PB chips and the chocolate chips and added 1 cup mini m&ms. I also got rid of the cinnamon. I like the new version even better then the first and I was pretty fond of the first version.