The race to the finish line always begins with finals week. Even though this is my last week from hell week of classes, I've come prepared. It's about time, it only took four years.

Snacks.



Yes, that's right. While I should have been spending another couple hours working on my paper last night, I decided instead to prep some healthy and tasty snacks to get me through my last week of finals.

Finals week, and when I'm stressed in general, is always dangerous when it comes to healthy eating. I've usually got breakfast down: Coffee, grapenuts, berries, and almond milk but the healthy mindset that I enter the day with seems to go right out the door when the afternoon approaches. If I'm on campus and haven't packed enough good snacks to keep me focused I'm guilty of caving every now and again. If you must know, my weakness are those sweetened Greek yogurt cups - you know the ones - they market them like a healthy snack option but a peek at the nutrition label reveals they're a bit more like ice cream than anything else. Granola bars are up there with Greek yogurt in the "healthy-disguise" category as well, and after reading some labels I was realizing that some brands are actually more akin to candy bars than they are to oatmeal.

After stumbling across some homemade granola bar recipes I decided to try my hand at it and play around with some flavors and textures that I like. Like every homemade granola recipe, the ingredients are really up to you. You can play with different nuts and dried fruit, or you can mix up the spices and extracts. It's nice to deviate from ordinary dried fruit and nuts every now and again.

Homemade Granola Bars

One of the things that makes this recipe so great is that you can change up the flavor combinations in infinite ways, which is especially helpful when you're cleaning out the cupboards. This recipe is just a basic template but below the recipe I've included a few flavor combinations, including the ones I made, to change things up a bit. I tried mimicking Kashi's Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond, although sans dark chocolate. If you're feeling a little more decadent feel free to throw in some good quality dark chocolate for a little something special.

1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats
1 cup crispy rice cereal, puffed millet, high-fiber cereal mix (like Kashi Go Lean, which I used), crushed pretzel sticks, or any other crispy grain or cereal
1/2 cup chopped nuts, like walnuts, peanuts, almonds, or pecans
1/2 - 1 cup dried fruits like cranberries, raisins, or cherries
1/2 cup brown rice syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (or extract of your choice)
1/4 teaspoon salt*
1/2 - 1 teaspoon spices, like cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice (optional)
3 tablespoons peanut butter or 1 tablespoon cocoa powder (optional for firmer bars)

*Instead of using table salt here, I used a big pinch of a flaky sea salt. It was wonderful to take a bite and get a salty bit every now and again.

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F with a rack in the middle of the oven. Line an 8 x 8 square baking pan with parchment paper, leaving extra parchment to hang over the sides. Lightly coat with nonstick cooking spray or butter. If desired, toast the nuts and grains for 10-15 minutes until toasted and fragrant. For softer dried fruit pieces, soak the dried fruit in hot water for 10 minutes and drain before using.



Mix the oats, cereal, nuts, and dried fruit together in a mixing bowl.



Warm the rice syrup for 10-15 seconds in the microwave or in a small saucepan over medium heat. It should be just loose and liquidy enough to pour. Mix in the extract, salt, spices (if using), and peanut butter or cocoa powder (if using).



Pour the rice syrup over the dry ingredients. Use a spatula to scrape the last of the syrup. Stir the rice syrup into the dry ingredients until the ingredients are completely coated and start to stick together in clumps.

Pour the mixture into the prepared pan. Use wet or lightly oiled hands to firmly press the mixture into the pan. Bake the bars for 20-25 minutes for chewy granola bars or 25-30 minutes for crunchy bars. As soon as you remove the bars from the oven, press them again with the back of a lightly oiled spatula. (This will give you more compacted granola bars.)



Let the bars cool completely in the pan. They will firm up as they cool. Once cooled, use the flaps of the parchment paper to remove the entire square from the pan. On a cutting board and using a sharp knife, cut into 8 bars. Store between layers of wax paper in an airtight container for up to two weeks. To make them easier to slip into back packs and lunch boxes, you can also wrap each bar individually in wax paper or plastic wrap.



Mixin' It Up

Dark Chocolate Cherry Almond: 1 1/2 cup oats, 1 cup crispy rice cereal, 1 cup chopped almonds, 1 cup dried cherries, 1/2 cup chopped good quality dark chocolate pieces, 1 teaspoon almond extract (in place of vanilla extract)

Cranberry Pecan Bars: 1 1/2 cups oats, 1 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal, 1/2 cup pecan pieces, 1 cup dried cranberries, 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Tropical Fruit Bars: 1 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/2 cups Kashi Go Lean cereal, 1/2 cup chopped macadamia nuts, 1 cup diced dried pineapple and mango pieces

Peanut Chocolate Bars: 1 1/2 cup oats, 1 1/2 cup crispy rice cereal, 1 cup chopped peanuts, 1/2 cup chopped good quality dark chocolate