Granola Fruit Bars

The warm smell of the almonds and oatmeal roasting in my oven this morning made the whole house smell warm and cosy as I sipped my coffee on the couch.  Once the granola bars were in the oven, the brown sugar and cinnamon combined for a truly homey feeling.  After some cooling time, the crunch of the oatmeal and almonds combined with the coconut, apples, craisins and sunflower kernels made for a perfect breakfast meal. 
I make breakfast for the week on Sundays because I work four mornings a week at 6:00am and I believe that breakfast is the most crucial part of the day.   I've made Brown Sugar Cinnamon Apple Oatmeal (I'll include the recipe later) and Peach Blueberry Oatmeal Bake, but this week I was craving something crunchy for breakfast.  I decided that Granola Fruit Bars would be ideal.  This recipe was modified from Healthy Cooking magazine, but with the addition of some salt and extra vanilla, the taste and crunch are great! 

Granola Fruit Bars
3 1/2 cups of quick-cooking oats
1/2 cup of wheat germ (optional)
1 cup chopped almonds (I used sliced almonds)
1 slightly beaten egg
2/3 cup melted butter
1/2 cup honey
1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup salted sunflower kernels
1/2 cup flaked sweetened coconut
1/2 cup chopped dried apples
1/2 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon

Combine the almonds, wheat germ, and oats on a greased cookie sheet and bake at 5 minutes intervals for 15 minutes, making sure to stir them so they don't burn.  They'll start to smell amazing about 10 minutes into the cooking process and the almonds with start to turn brown, just make sure that they don't burn.
In a separate bowl, combine the beaten egg, melted butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, salt, honey and vanilla in a bowl.  Let this sit while you combine the dried fruits in another bowl. 
Once the oats, wheat germ and almonds are done, gently dump them into the liquid mixture and add the dried fruit.  Stir with a spatula until every piece is coated with the liquid mixture. 
Re-coat the cookie sheet that you roasted the almonds and oatmeal on with cooking spray.  Pour the granola mixture onto the cookie sheet and even it out.  Then bake it in the oven for 13-15 minutes or until the edges turn light brown.  Let cool on a wire rack and then slice into bars and store in an airtight container.

These are super tasty and I really enjoyed one with my coffee this morning.  Granola bars like this make me look forward to working tomorrow morning. 

According the Healthy Cooking magazine one bar is: 130 calories, 7g fat, 13g saturated fat, 15mg cholesterol, 40mg of sodium, 16g carbohydrates, 2g fiber, 2g protein