Joy the Baker's Chewy Almond Coconut Raisin Bars

My husband and I eat a lot of granola bars because they make great portable snacks when we're at work. I've been trying out different homemade granola bars, just for fun. These granola bars from Joy the Baker are my new favorites.  They were crumbly, but not to soft; sweet, but not hard as a rock from all the sugar (like some of the bars I've tried).

I found the recipe in the Joy the Baker cookbook (which I love!), but here's another version I found online. Give them a try if you're looking for a break from holiday cookies.

Homemade Larabars

The local grocery store chain, Hy-Vee, publishes its own food magazine, and the latest issue includes several recipes for homemade energy bars.  I've been looking for a good granola bar recipe, so I gave these chewy almond energy bars from Hy-Vee Seasons magazine a try.  This recipe was almost no-bake, except for a quick trip in the oven to toast the almonds.  And I always like to find another reason to break out my food processor.

However, these bars were just OK.  My husband and I ended up eating the whole batch, mostly because we're trying to eat a little healthier.  But we didn't love these bars.  I did substitute one ingredient -- the almond butter -- for peanut butter because I didn't want to buy a whole jar of almond butter when only a small amount was needed for the recipe.  Maybe they would have tasted better with the almond butter?

These bars were fun to make, though.  The Hy-Vee Seasons magazine has several other energy bar recipes as well, so maybe I just need to experiment a little more to find the combination we like. You could find the recipes on the Hy-Vee Seasons website right now. The recipes will likely be under the "Past Issues" tabs later this month.