Cranberry-Almond Granola Bars

The kidlet has been going through granola bars at a prodigious rate. I've imposed a limit of two per day, but that still means we're generally going through 1-2 boxes of granola bars a week. Both for reasons of nutrition and waste/packaging (and because I thought it'd be fun), I decided that maybe it'd be worthwhile trying to make my own granola bars at home.

I picked a recipe more-or-less at random and started there. I may try one or two others over the coming weeks and then see which one is the favourite. Once I know which recipe I prefer as a base I can start messing with it. So many glorious flavour opportunities!

But, for now, here's the recipe I tried out. (Mostly) unmodified and in its original form.

Cranberry-Almond Granola Bars (with Chocolate Chips!)
Slightly adapted from Inspired Taste
2 1/2 c. old fashioned rolled oats
1/2 whole almonds, rough chopped
1/4 c. butter
1/3 c. honey
1/4 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 tsp. vanilla (I totally misread this and ended up putting 2 tsp. of vanilla in!)
1/4 tsp. coarse sea salt
1/2 c. dried cranberries, chopped
generous 1/4 c. chocolate chips + 2-4 Tbsp. more for on top

1. Combine the oats and almonds on a baking tray.
2. Bake at 350F for 8-10 minutes, stirring halfway through.
3. Combine the butter, honey, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt over medium-low heat until sugar has dissolved and mixture appears homogeneous.
4. In a bowl, combine oat mixture with honey mixture. Stir until oats are well-coated.
5. Allow to cool for a few minutes. (I waited ~4 minutes.)
6. While mixture is cooling, line an 8x8 baking dish with tin foil and lightly grease the foil.
7. Stir chocolate chips and cranberries into warm oat mixture.
8. Dump oat mixture into foil-lined baking dish and press it down firmly. Really pack it in there!
9. Sprinkle more chocolate chips on top and press them in.
10. Cover and refrigerate for 2 hours. (I actually put a weight on top of mine because I was paranoid that maybe I didn't press the mixture firmly enough and my granola bars would fall apart when cut.)
11. Unmold your granola brick and cut it in half. Cut each half into 6 or 7 bars. (Recipe says 6, but they came out a little wide. I think I'd prefer 7 next time.)