I fancy myself an aficionado of snacking, but I’m probably just thinking too highly of my taste buds. Over the years, I have powered through so many boxes of granola bars that I can separate the wheat from the chaff. I’ve been loving salted chocolate granola bars lately, so I decided to take a stab at making my own this week. Initially, I planned to add whole chocolate chips into the granola bars. Without thinking, I mixed freshly toasted oats and chocolate chips together. I quickly realized my mistake when I saw the tiny chocolate pyramids melted into a creamy mush. As it turns out, I think the melted chips were better for distributing chocolate flavor in the granola bars. Don’t you love it when kitchen mistakes lead to dishes that are better than you envisioned? I decided to use brown rice syrup in this recipe after Marissa at Pinch & Swirl introduced it to me earlier this month. Brown rice syrup is natural, vegan, and gluten-free and works well as a sugar substitute for baking. As with all other sweeteners, however, I would use it sparingly in my cooking. These granola bars were surprisingly light, and their taste reminded me of chocolate-covered cracker jacks–just healthier! Q: What are your favorite granola bars?
