Lake Champlain Five Star Chocolate Bar Granola

I was raised on breakfast cereal, and there's none more delicious than granola. It's so filling (and usually packs a caloric punch), and that crunch just gets me. Even though it's not as hearty as full on granola, I think I could eat Honey Bunches of Oats every day for the rest of my life.

For this reason, the Lake Champlain Five Star Chocolate Bar in Granola called out to me. I bought it at the same time as their mammoth caramel bar. As you can see in the next picture, this one had a creamy chocolate filling with granola bits, nuts, and cranberries throughout.


The bar smelled salty when I opened it. The chocolate filling was very creamy and smooth, making for less of a mouthful than the caramel bar. However, the bits and pieces in the middle made the bar incredibly salty.

I liked the flavor of the almonds and cranberries, and the oats and granola bits added an subtle, slightly earthy vanilla flavor. The crunchy texture was fun, and the granola held up well in the filling. Unfortunately, it was just too salty for my tastes, so I had to detract some points from this otherwise delicious and unique chocolate bar.

B-

Lake Champlain website

NewTree Granola

After loving the NewTree Belgian Biscuit bar, I was excited to come across the NewTree Granola bar at my local Wal-Mart. It offered another unique combination of flavors and textures I had not yet tried: milk chocolate and granola with lime and green tea extract.

The cocoa percentage was on the low side at 31%, but NewTree bars boast lower amounts of sugar than comparable chocolate bars (without an artificial sweetener in sight, mind you). In addition, half of the bar was well under 200 calories, which seems like a very reasonable indulgence. The box also mentions higher fiber and antioxidants, which are nice to have, but in the end, it’s still a chocolate bar.


The bar smelled of rich cocoa and lime juice, and I could taste the lime immediately. The granola bits (more like single pieces of oatmeal scattered throughout the bar) had a subtle vanilla flavor and added a neat crunch, making the chocolate a bit drier than I expected. This worked well for me, because it seemed to cancel out some of the stickiness I often experience with milk chocolate.

The green tea was almost undetectable, but concentration rewarded me with a few hints of grassiness. The chocolate, lime, and granola combination reminded me of cereals I liked as a kid, and the sweetness level was just right. It didn’t blow me away like the flax seed bar, but it was still an innovative, enjoyable chocolate bar.

B+

NewTree website

Ginger Granola Bars

I adore ginger. Ginger jam on bagels, pickled ginger with sushi, Moravian ginger cookies, chocolate covered ginger… You get the idea.

I devised this recipe after being inspired by ginger granola bars I bought from the grocer in the UK. I’ll eat chewy or crispy granola bars, but I prefer chewy. These are chewy and don’t require baking – perfect for hot summer kitchens. One caveat: Keep these stored in the fridge if your kitchen is warm or the sugar/honey binder warms up too and the bars crumble.

Ginger Granola Bars

½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup honey
1 teaspoon vanilla
¼ cup butter
⅛ teaspoon cinnamon
1 ½ cup oats
1 ½ cup cereal (I used Kashi GoLean)
½ cup raisins (substitute dried fruit of choice)
¼ cup crystallized ginger, chopped finely
¼ cup sunflower seeds (substitute nut of choice)

• Combine brown sugar, honey, vanilla, butter, and cinnamon in a saucepan. Bring to a boil. Lower heat and simmer for 2 minutes or until sugar is dissolved. Cool completely.
• Mix oats, cereal, raisins, crystallized ginger, and sunflower seeds in a large bowl.
• Mix the brown sugar mixture into the oat mixture.
• Spread mixture into a buttered 13x9 baking pan and press down firmly.
• Refrigerate for 2 hours.
• Cut into bars.