If At First You Don’t Succeed… Try, Try Again!
A few weeks ago, we learned that Ryan is allergic to casein, the protein in animal milk. This was devastating news for our cheese-loving, milk-drinking boy. Ryan’s snack of choice has always been “an apple and cheese with a glass of milk.” He had only tried one cheese he didn’t care for: blue cheese, and he drank a gallon of milk on his own every week, even choosing to order milk instead of soda or lemonade at restaurants. After learning that he could no longer have dairy products or products containing dairy, he tried to be a good sport, announcing: “Well, at least I can still have apples!,” but his disappointment was palatable. And so, I set off on a mission to prove to Ryan that there are plenty of wonderful foods he can still enjoy.
Fortunately, since Ryan is allergic to casein and not to lactose, he can have ghee. An ingredient commonly used in Indian cooking, ghee is similar to clarified butter; it is butter with all of the milk solids removed. Ryan has discovered he loves ghee on popcorn and rice. Connor is slowly developing a tolerance for ghee on popcorn. Although he does continue to request “popcorn with milk protein,” he willingly devours the popcorn topped with ghee when it is offered. So, that’s one favorite snack that’s still an option… thank goodness! Popcorn is a once-a-day treat in our home!
Several of Ryan’s other favorite snacks, however, are no longer options, and so, today I set out to make a healthy, dairy-free snack Ryan would enjoy: homemade granola bars:
Ingredients:
- 4 cups rolled oats – not quick oats (I lightly ground about half of them in the food processor)
- 1 1/2 cups whole wheat flour
- 1/2 cup flax seeds, ground
- 1/2 cup wheat germ
- 1/2 bag (6 oz.) of mini chocolate chips or an equivalent of dried fruit and/or nuts
- 1/2 cup brown sugar (or 1 cup if no sucanat is used)
- 1/2 cup sucanat
- 3/4 to 1 cup honey (depends on how sweet you like them; I opted for the 3/4 cup)
- 2 tsp cinnamon
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 cup oil (I used a mix of coconut oil & grape seed oil; olive oil would also work – look for one with a mild taste)
- 2 eggs, beaten
- 3 tsp vanilla extract
To Make:
- Mix all of the dry ingredients together in one bowl. Combine wet ingredients in a second bowl and mix well. Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients and mix well.
- Press the mixture onto a well-greased jelly roll pan
- Bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes. We like ours a little more ‘chewy’ so I baked ours for 25 minutes.
- Let cool for about 10 minutes and then cut into bars. Let them finish cooling in the pan.
- Remove from the pan and store in an airtight container.
So, I gathered my ingredients (mind you: this involved two trips to three grocery stores, and about three hours, but that’s another story). I gathered my ingredients, mixed everything together, popped them in the oven, and waited for the timer to go off. When I pulled them out of the oven, however, they didn’t look anything like the photo posted with the recipe on-line; they were dry and crumbly.
Disappointed, I logged on to e-mail the blogger who had posted the original recipe for suggestions… and realized I had omitted the honey in the recipe, 3/4 – 1 cup of honey! Well, that might explain why the bars were so dry, don’t ya think?!
Determined to create a batch of granola bars Ryan would enjoy, I tried again… this time remembering to add the honey, and substituting dried fruit for the chocolate chips. It’s amazing what a difference that bit of honey made… ok, well, maybe not so amazing since it was in the original recipe… but the second batch was chewy and held together beautifully…
After my baking efforts today, we now have two very different batches of granola bars.: the first, VERY crumbly, but still extremely tasty is probably best suited for granola cereal, trail mix, or granola crumbles on top of yogurt; the second, chewy and delicious, will be perfect for an on-the-go snack, say after a soccer game or on the way to a late-afternoon nature center class.
Connor has officially declared the crumbly chocolate chip granola bars, “DE-LI-CI-OUS!” Ryan returns from his week in Williamsburg with friends tomorrow. I hope he’s as excited about the chewy, fruity bars! Keep your fingers crossed!