It’s no secret that I’m obsessed with Flour Bakery, ever since I basically wrote my PhD from their tables. Instead of going to my office at Harvard I would park myself at Flour’s central square location, drink coffee, eat lunch and soak in the glorious mixture of bakery smells and… work I guess?
I probably did as much staring at beautiful baked goods as coding or writing.
Ever since I got THE BOOK I’ve been wanting to try my hand at their granola bars. I knew full well the bars were a little sweeter than I would like and probably made too big a batch (a 9×13!) so up those sleeves I rolled and got down to business.
Instead of homemade jam I used store bought, since I’m all for those time savings. If you don’t want to use store-bought, soak 1/2 cup chopped dried fruit in about 1/2 cup boiling water and then blend with some of that water.
I also cut down the sugar quite significantly and subbed oat flour for all purpose to up that staying power (and I honestly cannot tell the diff between those two flours in bar recipes). Changed up the proportions a little bit to fit my pantry and here you go, Elif’s version of Flour Bakery granola bars.
They’re still a ridiculously rich breakfast treat, we LOVE them and actually prefer the less sweet version. So let me know what you think and please do go visit Flour to try the original!
Jammy Seedy Granola Bars
Equipment
- 8×8 baking dish
- food processor
Ingredients
Bar dough
- 1/2 cup walnuts or pecans (60 g) you can probably sub your fave nut
- 1/2 cup shredded coconut (40 g) sub more nuts
- 1 cup oat or all purpose flour (120 g) gf all purpose if desired
- 1 cup oats (80 g) rolled or quick
- 2 tbsp brown sugar (24 g) sub regular sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 cup (plant) butter, softened and cut into pieces (112 g) 1 stick
- 3 tbsp maple syrup (63 g) sub honey or agave
Toppings
- 1/2 cup store-bought jam (120 g) or try the homemade jam in the Notes section
- 3 tbsp seeds (36 g) I used 2 tbsp millet and 1 tbsp flax
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8×8 baking dish with parchment.
- If your nuts aren't toasted, toast them for 8-10 minutes in the oven, make sure not to burn them!
- Add all bar dough ingredients but syrup into the food processor and pulse 15 times or so until combined.
- Transfer to a bowl and add the maple syrup. Stir with a spatula or hands to combine. If using hands don't overwork the dough because the butter will melt and get all sticky.
- Press about 2/3 of this dough evenly into the pan, add 3 tbsp seeds to the rest to make a crumb topping and refrigerate. Bake the pressed bars 15 minutes until slightly golden.
- Smear jam over the baked bars and sprinkle the refrigerated crumb topping. Bake another 40 minutes until the crumb layer is golden and crispy.
- Cool the bars completely to let them set, slice and enjoy!
Notes
- If you would like to make a healthier “dried fruit jam” soak 1/2 cup (80 g) chopped dried fruit (dates, apricots, even figs) in 1/2 cup boiling water about 30 minutes. Save the water, add the fruit to the food processor and use just enough water to blend it all together. Should make about 1/2 cup jam, just the right amount for the recipe. Add a squeeze of lemon if you want to take it up a notch.
- Keep leftovers in a sealed container. I kept mine refrigerated for max life and they didn’t get soggy or soft at all.