Foodie Friday! Mason's 'Mazing Granola Bars

Last weekend I had the chance to "cook" with our grandson, Mason. (Okay,  I did a little stirring, but mainly took pictures of the process.)   

He and his Mom made some awesome granola bars!!  I couldn't wait to get home and make them myself.

Here's a peek at the "cooking" process with a 23-month-old bundle of energy. 

First, a cart comes in super handy to make things within reach of little hands.

 The next part of the process is moving the flour back and forth from the canister to the bowl for about 10 minutes.  It could be this is a new way to sift the flour - but I'm guessing it is just plain fun!  First he moved it with a measuring cup, then a teaspoon, and then he simply said "dump!"

So Grandma did... because that's what Grandmas do!

At one point he found hitting the canister lid into the bowl of flour made for an awesome flour cloud. He thought it was hilarious when Grandma was covered in flour and he giggled, so he did it again and when some landed on his face and he put his hand to his face in surprise - this perfect hand print was the result!!

His Mom says the brown sugar is his favorite, although he loved munching on the coconut and oats just as much! 

And like any good cook, you have to sample!! 

Finger lickin' good! 

Don't the ingredients look yummy??  I love how he poured every ingredient into its own pile :)

This seems like a perfect spot to put the recipe.  I have renamed them:

Mason's 'Mazing Granola Bars

1-1/2 cup oats

1/2 cup coconut

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/2 cup flour

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 tsp. cinnamon (see below)

1/4 cup sunflower seeds (any nut will do)

1/4 cup flax seeds

1/2 cup chocolate chips (give or take a few)

1/2 cup oil or applesauce (I used applesauce, as did Mason)

2 eggs

Combine all ingredients, stirring until well blended. 

Spray baking dish (8 x 8 would work nicely)

Bake at 350 degrees for 20-25 minutes 

And the best part? 


Mason didn't even mind helping with the clean-up process.  

Pretty cute little guy huh?

Variations:

I made a full batch as above with the main ingredients.  I then divided the dough in half and put the chocolate chips and chopped pecans (to replace sunflower seeds)  in mine.  I have a feeling I forgot to cut the chocolate chips in half!

To the remaining dough I added half the cinnamon (since I was working with half a batch), and added raisins (instead of the chocolate chips) and sliced almonds (instead of the sunflower seeds) for Michael. 

I put each half batch in a loaf pan to bake - perfect size for a half batch and they were nice to slice like a traditional granola bar.

So this recipe is very flexible. 

Happy Friday!