Best Homemade Granola Bars EVER

After tweaking this recipe a little, I've found it.  THE PERFECT moist and chewy granola bar.  And I am so excited to share it with you.   Seriously, YUM.

• 2 cups oats
• 1/2 cup wheat germ
• 1/4 cup flax seed meal
• 3/4 cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup nuts (peanuts, whole or sliced almonds or walnut pieces)
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup honey
• 4 Tbsp butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp Kosher salt
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or raisins (optional)
• 1/2 cup coconut (optional)
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

2. Mix the oats, wheat germ, flax seed meal, sunflower seeds and almonds in a 9x13 baking dish. Toast them in the oven for 10-12 minutes, stirring after 5 minutes, so that the mixture doesn't burn.

3. Meanwhile, prepare another 9x13 glass baking dish by lining it with waxed paper. Make sure the wax paper a little longer than necessary on each side of the dish. (Instead of dirtying another pan, I skip this step.  Once the mixture from step 1 is out of the oven, I pour it into a bowl and stick the 9x13 pan in the fridge for a couple of minutes to cool.  Then I add the waxed paper and proceed with step #6.)

4. While the dry mixture is toasting, combine the brown sugar, honey, butter, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan and bring it to a simmer over medium heat, stirring constantly.

5. Once the honey mixture begins to bubble, pour it over the toasted dry ingredients into a large bowl.  Add the optional ingredients at the end of the list and coat completely with the honey mixture.

6. After the mixture is thoroughly coated, pour it into the waxed paper lined baking dish. Fold over the sides of the waxed paper or add a sheet on top, and PRESS HARD all over the granola. You want to compact it together so that your bars won’t fall apart when you cut them.

7. Allow the granola bars to cool for a couple of hours. 

8. Open the wax paper and carefully turn the granola onto a large surface, peeling away the rest of the waxed paper.

9. Using a large knife, firmly press down (without sawing) to cut the bars into whatever size you prefer.

10. Store individually in plastic wrap or in an airtight container, separating each layer with waxed paper (so they don't stick together).

This batch looks smaller than it should because I separated some out for Mike and left out the raisins.