Nature Valley Copycat

March 9, 2015: Champaign, IL.  A few weeks ago I bought a gigantic can of instant oatmeal, I had no idea what I was going to make but I couldn't pass it up (it was my first trip to Aldi and I was in shock of how cheap things are).  After a batch of oatmeal chocolate chip cookies and a failed attempt at plain bowl one morning, I decided to make homemade granola bars!  I followed a mix of a few different recipes I found on Pinterest, mainly because I lacked at least one ingredient in every recipe I found, but the bars turned out perfectly.  They have the perfect soft and chewy texture of a cookie, the "full" feeling of a dense granola bar, and only 160 calories a serving!

Recipe

Bar:

1 & 1/2 Cup Old Fashion Oats

1/2 Cup Oat flour (put oats in a blender until they form a flour like consistency)

3/4 Cup White Flour

1 TSP Baking Soda

1/4 TSP Baking Powder

Pinch of Salt

1 TSP Cinnamon

1/2 Cup Brown Sugar

2 TSP Vanilla Extract

1/2 Cup Water

1 Egg

Frosting:

1/4 Cup Butter

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1 Cup Powdered Sugar

1 TBS Water

Preheat the oven to 350 and line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper.  Combine all dry ingredients for the bars in a medium sized bowl.  Combine Water, Egg and Vanilla separately.  Slowly add the wet to the dry until everything is wet., do not over stir.  Press mixture into pan, bake for 15-20 minutes until golden brown.

Combine all frosting ingredients in a bowl until fully mixed.  Once the bars are finished, allow them to cool, cut into squares, then pipe frosting onto bars.  Enjoy!