How To: Make homemade peanut butter and banana nut granola bars

Try making your own granola bars instead of buying them at the grocery store. You could just surprises yourself. They may taste better. Start out by trying this recipe for peanut butter and banana nut granola bars. They're made of all natural and healthy ingredients, plus they're a cinch to whip up!

Ingredients:

1/4 cup pitted dates
1/4 cup dried banana
3 tbs raisins (I used Thompson raisins)
1 tbs peanut butter
6 tbs whole grain oats
3 tbs wheat bran
4 tbs walnuts/almonds
2 tsp pure maple syrup

Directions:

1. Prepare the dried banana. Further instructions can be found here.
2. In a food processor / magic bullet, lightly grind up the dates, dried banana, raisins, oats and the walnuts/almonds. Don't over-process as you want to keep some of the crunchiness from the nuts and chewiness from the oats.
3. Add into a bowl. Then add in peanut butter, wheat bran, and the maple syrup.
4. Mix together well. If you find that there isn't enough sticky-substances in the mixture to fully combine everything together, blend up a few more pitted dates and add it into the mixture. (Using your hands to mix everything works better than using a spoon.)
5. When you are able to form a solid ball with the mixture, then you have the right consistency. Place ball onto a cutting board, and flatten it with your hand. Then use a rolling pin to flatten it out, as thick or thin as you want your bars to be.
6. Cut off the uneven edges of the mixture and put them aside to use after. Cut your granola bars and place then on a parchment paper on top of a baking sheet. Preheat oven to 325F
7. Use up the rest of the mixture and cut into bars.
8. Lastly, place them in the oven and cook for 15-20 minutes. Once you remove them from the oven, leave them to cool for a few minutes. They will harden as they cool down.

Storing:

Try tupperware. You can keep them in the fridge if you want to. You can also wrap each bar in plastic wrap.