Trail Mix Granola Bars

Trail Mix Granola Bars

My little friend Madison Long made trail mix with her mom and shared it with us.  TCJne doesn’t eat “trail mix” he thinks it’s for the birds.  So instead of hogging it all down myself, I decided to make granola bars with it.  He will eat them if there are no cookies in the jar… like my granny always used to say, “There’s more than one way to skin a cat!”

*2 cups trail mix

2 cups oatmeal (whole grain quick oats)

2 cups Quaker Natural Granola oats, honey & almonds cereal

1 cup coconut

½ cup raisins

½ cup honey

½ cup butter

2 Tbsp brown sugar

2 Tbsp maple syrup

2 Tbsp crunchy peanut butter

1 egg

1 tsp kosher salt

Preheat oven to 350°.  Grease the bottom of a 13x9x2 in baking dish with cooking spray.  Place a sheet of parchment paper on top and spray that also. 

In a very large bowl combine trail mix, oatmeal, granola cereal, coconut and raisins and mix well.  Melt butter.  In food processor or Magic bullet add butter with honey, brown sugar, maple syrup, peanut butter, egg and salt.  Pulse until well blended.  Pour over granola mixture and stir well. 

Spoon mixture onto greased parchment paper, press down firmly all around.  Sprinkle with sea salt (optional—I’m addicted to it).  Place in oven and bake 20 minutes.  Rotate pan so that the front is in the back and the back is in the front and bake an additional 5-7 minutes, just until all outside edges are brown.

Cool 30 minutes and slide out of pan to continue cooling.  Cool completely before slicing into squares (I made the mistake of cutting too soon).  Place in an airtight container.

*Madison Long’s homemade trial mix consists of pecans she picked from her granddaddy’s backyard.  She mixed them with salt and butter and roasted them on a cookie sheet in a 375° oven for about 15-20 minutes, stirring every five minutes.  After they cooled, she chopped them up and combined with a bag of dried cranberries, a bag of M&M’s (the ones she didn’t eat) and a bag of milk chocolate chip cookies.  This is her snack for when goes to her daily job of blueberry picking.

© Crackerberries 2013

PIñA COLADA CAKE

So I had some “Master of Mixes” Piña Colada mix leftover in the fridge.  I don’t know how long that stuff lasts but I didn’t want it to go bad so had to think of something to use it for.  There are only so many Piña Coladas a person can drink.

½ cup butter flavored Crisco

2 cups sugar, divided

2 eggs

1 Tbsp vanilla

3 tsp baking powder

2½ cups all purpose flour

2 cups Master of Mixes Piña Colada mix, divided

2 cups whipped cream

2-3 cups coconut

Cream together 1½ cup sugar and shortening until fluffy; add eggs and vanilla and beat well.  Combine flour and baking powder together in small bowl; add to creamed mixture alternately with 1 cup Piña Colada mix.  Once all ingredients are well blended, continue to beat on medium for about 2-3 minutes.  Pour into 9x13 greased and lightly floured pan.  Bake 350º for 30-35 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

Fork holes all through top of cake while still hot; pour 1 cup Piña Colada mix over top.  Sprinkle with 1-1½ cups coconut; let cool completely.  Spread whipped cream over top (be sure to share the spatula with the dog after) and sprinkle with toasted coconut.  (To toast coconut, spread on cookie sheet and place in preheated 350º oven for 10 minutes, stirring every 2-3 minutes.)  Place cake in fridge and chill for 2-4 hours before serving… the longer it chills in fridge the better it is.

© Crackerberries 2011

Hallelujah Muffins

Yesterday brought our evangelism training classes to an end. The big question of the day was, “Do you know what God’s will for your life is?” At first I was putting too much thought into it. Does He want me to write? Does He want me to cook? Does He want me to open a Bed & Breakfast? What does He want me to do? Once I stopped analyzing everything I’ve done in the past, everything I’m doing now, and everything I’d like to do in the future, the answer came to me and it was actually pretty simple. He has the same will for my life that He has for all of our lives. “Follow me, and I will make you fishers of men.” What we do with our lives isn’t as important as how we do what we do with our lives. Amen?

With that being said, here is the recipe of the day.

Hallelujah Muffins

Preheat oven to 350º

2½ cups all purpose flour
1¼ cups sugar
3 tsp cinnamon
½ tsp nutmeg
2 tsp baking soda
3 eggs
¾ cup applesauce
½ cup vegetable oil
1Tbsp vanilla
2 cups shredded carrot
1 medium apple, peeled and diced
1 cup crushed pineapple, drained
½ cup flaked coconut
½ cup raisins
½ cup chopped pecans

In large bowl combine the first five ingredients. In a smaller bowl, combine the eggs, applesauce, oil and vanilla; mix well and combine with the dry ingredients. Stir just until moistened, (batter will be thick). Add remaining ingredients and blend well. Fill greased or paper lined muffin cups ¾ full. Bake at 350º for 20 minutes. Cool for five minutes before removing from pans to wire racks. Makes 2 dozen.

© Crackerberries 2009

Good 4 U Treat

I love granola bars. They are so expensive though. So, I decided to try making my own. They came out OK. Next time I would be sure not to use cereal with raisins during the first baking process because some of the raisins seemed to be a little “overcooked”. All in all, this is a good homemade version of a chewy granola bar.


3½ cups of granola cereal, quick cooking oats, sunflower seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, wheat germ, (*whatever crunchy ingredients you would like)1 cup coconut
1 cup raisins
½ cup honey
¼ cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp vanilla
4 Tbsp margarine

Preheat oven 300º

Combine granola ingredients and coconut and spread on 9x12 baking dish. Do not add raisins at this time. Bake in 300º oven for 20 minutes, stirring once during baking time. (For crunchier granola bake an additional 5-10 minutes.) In the mean time, heat butter, brown sugar and honey in small sauce pan. Once dry ingredients come out of oven add raisins. Add vanilla to melted butter mixture and mix with granola. (I put aluminum foil down and that made it easier to take out of the pan and put on a chopping board for cutting). Press mixture into greased 8x8 pan and bake for another 20 minutes in 300º oven.
*You may add whatever ingredients you like. I contemplated Lucky Charms … do you think they would be magically delicious?
© Crackerberries 2009