Tuesday's With Dorie-Granola Grabbers with Homemade Maple-Pecan Peach Granola

It has been a long weekend- lots of cake baking and ice cream making. That being said, yes, I waited until the very last moment to make these cookies. I wanted to use homemade granola because I think some other kinds can be too sweet and I like knowing what exactly is in my granola. Someone posted a link to an easy, basic granola recipe from Cooking Light, so I thought I would try it. I had some peach nectar sitting on the counter from a cake I made this weekend and instead of letting it go to waste, I decided it had to go into the granola somehow. I ended up doubling the granola, reducing the oil, adding peach nectar, wheat germ and flaxseed meal, but you aren't really here for the granola? Are you? Well, if you are, it was a hit. And it tasted great in these cookies. I think I am making more granola tomorrow. I still have a little peach nectar left in that can.Now, onto this little cookie. Or should I say, onto this large bar cookie. I used golden raisins, but only put half of them in and added mini m&m baking bits for the rest of the raisins. Everything else was pretty much as called for in the recipe, but I made it into bars. I just couldn't bring myself to make out all the little cookies today. And, I wanted to make sure they were chewy.

I patted the cookie dough into a 9x13-inch pan that had a large piece of parchment fit into it- it was pretty thick, all pressed down in that pan. I reduced the oven temp to 350 and just keep an eye on em, I lost track of the exact time, but I knew when they looked done. It was probably around 35 or 40 minutes. They were perfect. Golden on top, chewy in the middle, and I got to cut them into large bars, which means we ate 1 and didn't have to feel bad, because we were full! I really liked this recipe and so did everyone else over here. It seemed more like a trail mix cookie by the time I got done with it, but whatever you want to call it- It was good!

This recipe was chosen by Michelle of Bad Girl Baking, so go to her blog to get the recipe and don't forget to check out the TWD Blogroll to see everyone else's Granola

Grabbers!

Maple-Pecan Peach Granola heavily adapted from a basic recipe from Cooking Light

4 cups regular oats

1/4 cup wheat germ

1/4 cup flaxseed meal

1 cup pecan and walnut pieces

1 cup maple syrup

1/4 cup peach nectar

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1 tablespoons canola oil

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cooking spray

Preheat oven to 300°.
Combine oats and all ingredients in a large bowl. Spread on a large jelly-roll pan coated with cooking spray. Bake at 300° for 1 hour, stirring every 15 minutes. Cool completely.
Note: Store in an airtight container for up to one week.