Fruit & Nut Granola Bars

It's no secret I'm a major hippie when it comes to my overwhelming love for granola. I used to swear by Bear Naked Fit vanilla almond crunch, as well as their fruit and nut granola. If it came down to me being able to put $5 worth of gas in my car or buying a bag of granola, let's just say I'd be sitting at home with a spoon and a big grin on my face! Don't worry about me ever running out of gas though, because I will never buy store-bought granola again. For my first homemade granola adventure I used a recipe by Ina Garten, but I followed Smitten Kitchen's wise adaptations. I omitted the butter and left out the brown sugar. Because after that King Cake, I thought it best to cut calories wherever possible. Instead of chopping dried fruit, I used 1 1/2 cups of a mix of Archer Farms Raisin Nut trail mix and Sunny Cranberry trail mix. Altogether I had raisins, golden raisins, cranberries, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, and a few hazelnuts and pistachios (I picked out the whole almonds from both trail mixes). I also omitted the salt from the recipe, because the nuts in the cranberry trail mix were salted. And for the coconut I used shaved coconut instead of shredded because it was prettier! ;D On the day the granola is made, it's of the chewier variety. But as time passes, it becomes suitable for crunchy granola lovers. Either way, it tastes phenomenal! PS: It's also delicious crumbled over fresh fruit and yogurt! Another checkmark on my Top 100!
Granola Bars
Makes 12 to 16 granola bars

2 cups old-fashioned oatmeal
1 cup sliced almonds (I used slivered almonds)
1 cup shredded coconut, loosely packed (I used shaved)
1/2 cup toasted wheat germ
2/3 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 1/2 cups diced dried fruit (I used fruit and nut trail mix)

Preheat your oven to 350°F. Butter an 8×12-inch baking dish and line it with parchment paper.

Toss the oatmeal, almonds, and coconut together on a sheet pan and bake for 10 to 12 minutes, stirring occasionally, until lightly browned. Transfer the mixture to a large mixing bowl and stir in the wheat germ. Reduce the oven temperature to 300°F.

While the mixture is still warm, stir in the honey, vanilla and salt until the mixture is well coated, then the dried fruit. Pour the mixture into your prepared baking dish and press, press, press it in (wet fingers and/or a silicon spatula work great for this) until the mixture is packed as tightly as possible.

Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until light golden brown. Cool for 2 to 3 hours before cutting into squares.

Store in an airtight container between sheets of wax paper.

Ina Garten's (Toasted) Coconut Cupcakes

UPDATE: I wrote this entry when I was the only one who had tasted the cupcakes. The concensus from the wing-nighters is that these are the BEST cupcakes so far! One wing-nighter had this to say: "Awesome! Awesome! Awesome!" :D If that's not proof enough that this is a winning recipe, I dunno what you want... a sacrificial lamb? No thanks.

Strawberry cupcakes won the poll... but as you can see this post isn't about strawberry cupcakes. Well, what had happened was... It started raining before I had a chance to go out and find local strawberries. And the strawberries at the grocery store were from Florida. This time of year I can get beautiful strawberries that were grown only 10 minutes from my house. I wasn't going to settle. No offense, Florida. Anyway, if you voted for strawberry cupcakes, please direct your complaints to The Rain. Thanks!

On the other hand, if you voted for coconut cupcakes, feel free to direct all your exuberant exclamations to ME! Thank you! Thank you! *Takes a bow* You like me! You really like me! (Am I too young for that joke??) Excuse me, let me get myself back together. These cupcakes are the SHIZZ! They are sort of a re-imagining of Ina's coconut cupcakes. I made them with toasted coconut (for Josh! Am I a good girlfriend or what!). I also used buttermilk powder instead of buttermilk. I cut the recipe in half, but I used 3 eggs instead of 2 1/2 (the original recipe calls for 5 eggs). These are fantastic! The toasted coconut flavor really comes through. The almond extract is a good co-starring flavor, but it doesn't steal the spotlight. And the cream cheese frosting... well that needs no added explanation. These are definitely a 5 all the way across my ratings board! :D

Can you smell that yummy toasted coconut?? My favorite step...
...Creaming the butter and sugar until FLUFFY!
After the last addition of flour, I like to finish mixing by hand.
The recipe says to fill the cups to the top. I NEVER do that, but I decided to try it on 4 cupcakes...
The cupcakes I did not fill all the way to the top came out looking nice.
The full cups overflowed a bit and looked like mushrooms.
Ohhhhh yeah......
I urge you to add this to your "to-bake" list. The toasted coconut sends you straight into nirvana!

Ina Garten's Coconut Cupcakes (halved and with minute changes)
Makes about 16 (The original recipe says it makes 18-20, half would be 9-10... umm who are they kidding?)

1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1 cup sugar
3 eggs (original recipe calls for 5, half would be 2 1/2...)
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 teaspoon almond extract
1 1/2 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1/2 cup buttermilk (I used 2 tablespoons of buttermilk powder mixed into the dry ingredients and substituted 1/2 cup of water here)
7 ounces sweetened, shredded coconut (toasted, if you like; to toast, preheat the oven to 375F. Spread coconut evenly on a cookie sheet. Bake for 5 minutes. Stir the coconut and bake for 5 more minutes. Keep an eye on it because it burns quickly.)

Frosting
1/2 pound (1 8-oz. pkg.) cream cheese, room temp (I prefer to make mine with cold cream cheese)
1 1/2 sticks (3/4 cup) unsalted butter, room temp
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
3/4 pound confectioners' sugar, sifted

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter and sugar on high speed until light and fluffy, about 5 minutes. With the mixer on low speed, add the eggs, 1 at a time, scraping down the bowl after each addition. Add the vanilla and almond extracts and mix well.

In a separate bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt. In 3 parts, alternately add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the batter, beginning and ending with the dry. Mix until just combined. Fold in 3 1/2 ounces of coconut (I took into consideration that my toasted coconut would have less moisture and therefore weigh less. I only added 2 1/2 ounces of it to the batter. And I crushed it with my hands to allow the flavor to spread more evenly throughout the batter).

Line a muffin pan with paper liners. Fill each liner to the top with batter. Bake for 25 to 35 minutes (Mine were done at 19 minutes), until the tops are brown and a toothpick comes out clean. Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. Remove to a baking rack and cool completely.

Meanwhile, make the frosting. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, on low speed, cream together the cream cheese, butter, and vanilla and almond extracts. Add the confectioners' sugar and mix until smooth.

Frost the cupcakes and sprinkle with the remaining coconut.

Overall rating on a scale of 1-5
Moistness: 5
Tenderness: 5
Frosting: 5