Homemade Granola Bars - a Successful Fail

I've been on an experimental cooking kick this past week. On Saturday, I made peach jam for the first time ever. On Sunday, I tried my hand at making granola bars. On Monday,  I made strawberry jam. (Let's face it, I'm obsessed with jam these days...you can make blueberry jam too, right?? Oh the possibilities!) What oh what will the rest of the week bring??

So, I Googled (shockingly) a recipe for homemade granola bars. I found a TON of really cool looking recipes. I couldn't decide which one to follow, mostly because I didn't have all of the ingredients from any one recipe. Sooooo, I decided to make up my own recipe.

I realize how horrible this picture is, but this was all that was left in the pan. Deliciousness.

Homemade Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 cup quinoa
1/2 cup instant oats
2 heaping Tablespoons of peanut butter
3 teaspoons of honey
2 handfuls of raisins
2 handfuls of sliced and skinned almonds

Directions:

Preheat your oven to 375F.

In a frying pan, add the quinoa and oats. Let cook for 3-5 minutes on high heat, stirring occasionally. Once the quinoa becomes fragrant, add in the raisins, almonds, peanut butter and honey. Mix until the peanut butter is thoroughly melted and mixed through.

Line a loaf pan with baking paper (parchment paper) and then spoon the mixture into the loaf pan. You want it to be at least 1/4-1/2 inch thick. Bake the mixture for 20 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow to cool before cutting.

***I made the mistake of cutting the granola into bars right after they came out of the oven.  I also, might have pulled them out of the oven after only 15 minutes. They totally crumbled and didn't hold the bar shape at all. HOWEVER, they taste AMAZING. We have been eating the mixture with a spoon. I have not quite figured out what to change to make them hold their bar shape.