Homemade granola bars that won't break your teeth!

I made these tonight.

http://www.alexandracooks.com/2012/07/15/acrobatic-granola-bars/

I tweaked them a bit, but they are ridiculous. Yes, blah blah blah, corn syrup, blah blah, bad for you... I told you I wasn't a food snob! I totally corn-syruped (shh, it's a word) the S out of these. Sorry to use harsh letters, but it's true. Once I buy agave I will make them with that. But, even with the corn syrup (you know, the scant 1/4 of it), these are still a lot healthier than most bars we could get the kids at the store.

I didn't do the big bag of granola mixture-- just the "small batch." This is what I used in ours: one cup old-fashioned oats, 3 T ground/milled flax, 1/2 shredded coconut, 1/2 cup finely ground pecans, 1/4 pecan halves, 1/4 cup sunflower seeds, and 1/4 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips. I would've put raisins in, but the kids beasted those earlier. Nope, they weren't vegan chocolate chips. Totally using up what I have in the house already, as was indicated in the last post. The liquid part of the bars is 1/3 cup nut butter (I used peanut butter, but good grief, MaraNatha Maple Almond Butter would BE FRIGGIN AWESOME IN THESE), 1/4 cup corn syrup, tsp vanilla, a little less than a quarter cup of brown sugar, and 1/4 cup unsalted butter.

Baking them is a little tricky. I tried making them once last week and they just fell apart. Reasoning: I made them too thick (pan was too small) and didn't cook them long enough, even though I cooked them longer than they were supposed to be cooked. Eh, everyone's ovens are different. So, tonight I pressed them firmly into a lightly sprayed 13 x 9 (though I just would've lined it with parchment paper had I had some in the cupboard) and baked them at 350 for probably what ended up being about 35 minutes (I put them back in and just kept an eye on them after I realized they weren't done after 25 minutes). They were dark brown around the edges and golden brown everywhere else.

David goes nuts over them, and so does Gwen. I will, of course, feel better once I am using agave, dried fruit, and vegan butter in them. Next time I make them, those are the changes that will be made. However, I am quite pleased. The last time I made granola bars (about a year ago), they were soft at first, crunchy after cooling, and diamonds the next day. Not these! They are actual chewy, and it's awesome. My favorite. :)