Suggestions needed for a substitution in a granola bar recipe -- instead of honey...?

[StephP]

Hi all,

I've a granola bar recipe that I'm experimenting with and it isn't glueing together, mainly because I've reduced the honey in the recipe (too sweet!) and I don't have access to any wheat germ/flaxseed.

Dry ingredients --- 2 C oatmeal, 1 C nuts, 1 C coconut
Glue --- 2 tbsp butter, 1/4 C brown sugar, 2 tbsp honey instead of 2/3 C, and vanilla

The "glue" was melted together and mixed with the toasted dry ingredients and then baked for 25 minutes at 300 F. After it cooled and was cut, the bars crumbled too easily and it was still too sweet.

Do y'all have any good alternatives for glueing the thing together but reducing the sweetness?

Thanks in advance!

[HillJ]

I don't typically bake granola bars because I find they dry out and crumble. So, if you're interested in making a raw bar, perhaps next time toast your cup of nuts and use either brown rice syrup as the binder or agave flakes which I love for raw bars of this type better than the nectar syrup. Corn syrup is icky and molasses will take over the other flavors. What might help you adhere this batch is to refrigerate them. Serve with a slather of good peanut butter and enjoy! I find the batches vary alot depending on the ingredients but unbaked is my best tip. 101cookbooks.com has a fabulous bar recipe that I play around with alot and its always a hit. Very satisfying, good for ya, recipe.

[Kajikit]

Egg is a binder... since they're baked after mixing you could use that.

[ChristinaMason]

You could also try brown rice syrup. I think it's considerably less sweet. Whole Foods has it.

What about agave nectar? Corn syrup? Molasses?

[goodhealthgourmet]

brown rice syrup or molasses, yes. but agave and corn syrup are even sweeter than honey or sugar.

[toveggiegirl]

Both rice syrup and molasses have a very strong flavour that you have to really enjoy to use in a recipe like this.

[goodhealthgourmet]

i find rice syrup to be much milder than molasses, but you're right.

and of course, blackstrap molasses would be way too powerful & bitter.

[Pata_Negra]

have you tried golden syrup or maple syrup? works for me but still can't avoid the sweetness though.

[NE_Elaine]

I just made granola with real maple syrup rather than honey and I found the result much less sweet than the honey that I normally use.

[toveggiegirl]

You can use egg, egg white and/or powdered milk to help bind the granola bars.

ETA: Oops! Looks like GHG beat me to it! Here is one recipe to look at from Ellie Krieger's "The Food You Crave". It only as 1/3 cup maple syrup and no sugar.
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/el...

[goodhealthgourmet]

if they don't have to be vegan, add a beaten egg or a couple of egg whites.

[ipsedixit]

Peanut butter.