Granola Bars

Tomorrow Amelie and I take off for the US. This afternoon I decided to whip up some granola bars to take as a snack. I found these online and was surprised at how incredibly fast and easy they are (and cheaper than buying them at the store). The great thing is you can adapt them to your own taste. I changed these a bit but the original recipe can be found on allrecipes.com.

Granola Bars

3 cups quick-cooking oats

1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk

2 tablespoons butter, melted

¼ c cup flaked coconut

1 cup sliced almonds

3/4 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips

3/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries

1 t salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease a 9x13 inch pan (I did them on a cookie sheet with baking paper...however the UK cookie sheets are smaller than the US).

In a large bowl, mix together the oats, sweetened condensed milk, butter, coconut, almonds, chocolate chips and cranberries with your hands until well blended. Press flat into the prepared pan.

Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, depending on how crunchy you want them. Lightly browned just around the edges will give you moist, chewy bars. Let cool for 5 minutes, cut into squares then let cool completely before serving.