Maneater, A Recipe for Maple Nut Granola Bars

Maple Nut Granola Bars.

I like to set the mood with music when I bake. Mostly it’s some vintage Patsy Cline/Kitty Wells station or a throwback 90’s hip hop vibe, but sometimes I want to rock a yacht. Since I was making a recipe that required 6 cups of rolled oats, the AM Gold fangirl inside of me longed for Hall & Oates, naturally. I fed the Songza search with H&O and it returned the favor by instantly playing me “Rich Girl” setting a golden tone of super hits with a station called Ron Burgundy’s Bachelor Pad. It stayed classy all afternoon.

A friend recently returned from a trip to NH with a fine bottle of Grade A Medium Amber. Having been gifted with 8.45 ounces of New Hampshire’s King of Maple Syrup, a product of yankee pride, I had to take it to pleasure town. I mean, this syrup is kind of a big deal. So, I hauled out a bag of oats, combined them with some gently toasted nuts, exotic spices, and the rich mahogany colored syrup. The end result, a classy bar of AM Gold proportions.

Watch out boy, you’ll chew these up.

The maple syrup, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg are the best thing to happen to Oat(e)s since Hall.

Cinnamon, nutmeg and salt give the granola bars a spicy kick.

Coating the oats in the butter and spices and lightly toasting them in the oven gives them a rich and spicy flavor.

I LOVE to chop nuts by hand.

You can rely on your old man’s honey.

The super sweet syrup mixed with the aromatic oats and nuts combines like the smooth sounds of a sweet 70s sax solo.

The mix is thick and sticky but oh so swingin’.

Use a sheet of parchment to smooth out that sticky sweet.

You’ll know the granola is done baking when your house begins to smell of leather bound books and the color of the granola is a deep mahogany. Use the parchment paper to gently lift the entire bar from the pan.