Cookie of the Week

This week's cookie is a little less cookie and a little more.... I don't know, something else. A snack, maybe? A breakfast on the go? A healthy treat disguised as something sweet?

This week I made granola bars.

I love how easy they are and so customizable, too. The boys can pick their own combination of fruits, nuts and seeds to make a treat that suits their tastes. Much better than store bought (then again isn't homemade anything better than store bought?)

Granola Bars

14 oz can condensed milk
2 1/2 cup old fashioned rolled oats
1 cup shredded coconut
1 cup dried fruit of choice (diced apple, cranberries, raisins, etc)*
1 cup seeds of choice (pumpkin seeds, sesame, sunflower, etc)*
1 cup nuts of choice (we need to be nut free so I just split this cup between the fruit and seeds but peanuts or almonds are a nice choice, too)*

* this time I used 3 cups of Not Nuts Mountain Mambo nut free trail mix by Enjoy Life. You just need a total of 3 cups of whatever combination of stuff you like. If you add chocolate chips, they'll get all melty and very unchip like but that might be ok, too.

Preheat the oven to 250 F. Oil a 9x13 baking pan (I just line it with parchment paper. Less to clean up). Lightly oil a large mixing bowl.

Warm the condensed milk in a saucepan. Combine all the other ingredients in the oiled bowl. Pour the warm milk over the dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread the mixture in the prepared pan with a rubber spatula or with your hands (light coated with oil so the gooey stuff doesn't stick. You can get CSI-like and wear gloves but I don't have any and haven't bothered to get some.)

Bake for 1 hour. Cool for 15 minutes and then cut in to bars. Makes 16-24 bars depending on how big you like them.

Enjoy! These store really well. I keep them in a cookie tin lined with some of the same parchment paper that I lined the baking pan with. (I'm frugal that way!)