"Everything but the Kitchen Sink" Granola Bars

Yesterday was a gorgeous day and it turned into a beautiful evening.  After selling our couch to some friends (hooray!) and a quick dinner, I decided to take a break from packing and distract myself with some baking.  After all, the weather was finally cool enough to turn the oven on!

I easily decided to make "everything but the kitchen sink" granola bars and pulled out any ingredient from the pantry and fridge that could possibly go into a granola bar.  I didn't end up using all of the ingredients but it was quite an impressive spread of ingredients to photograph!

I first mixed together the dry ingredients:

• 2 1/2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup finely diced walnuts
• 1/2 cup dark brown sugar
• 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1/2 cup shredded coconut flakes
• 1/2 cup golden raisins
• 1/2 cup honey roasted peanuts
• 1/4 cup chocolate whey protein powder
• 1 tablespoon espresso powder
• 1/4 tablespoon salt

I then mixed in the wet ingredients:

• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup agave nectar
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 eggs, beaten
• 1/2 cup maple syrup

I gave everything a stir and then firmly pressed the granola batter into a parchment-lined baking dish.

I baked the granola bars in the oven at 350 degrees for twenty minutes until the edges had started to brown.  Please forgive the flash photography but it was pretty dark by the time the granola bars were done baking!

I let the granola bars cool down before cutting them into squares.

These thick granola bars were seriously awesome.  Because they were so thick, they almost seemed like oatmeal squares instead of granola bars.  I was worried about the ingredient overload, but you seriously can't go wrong with adding lots of different ingredients to granola bars.  This one had a nice chocolate flavor from the chocolate chips and the protein powder, which I absolutely adored!

Have you done any baking lately or have the hot temperatures kept you from turning on the oven?