The Little Granola Bar That Couldn't

I love granola bars. I always have a box in the pantry, and they're one of my favorite go-to snacks. When I saw a recipe for raspberry granola bars, I knew I had to try them. They were raspberry-oat, no less, which meant I could feel smug and healthy while snacking. All the better!

The first cue that something wasn't right was when the batter looked exactly like oatmeal cookie dough. I mean exactly. In fact, the process and ingredients were suspiciously similar to those for oatmeal cookies, but there was a picture of granola bars right by the recipe and a mention of packing them for a hike, so I forged on undeterred. I opted to add slivered almonds for extra protein (ok, because they taste good).

Everything went as planned until I was supposed to "crumble" the remaining batter on top of the raspberry filling. Since the batter stuck to my fingers (and everything else it touched), crumbling wasn't so much an option. I sort of flicked globs on top and decided to call it a day. Thirty minutes later the timer dinged, and I pulled out of the oven ... oatmeal cookies. In bar form and with raspberry filling, but still oatmeal cookies. They looked nothing like the thin, crunchy bars pictured in the magazine. I will admit they're pretty good cookies, but I can't snack on cookies midafternoon and feel smug and healthy. Bah!

So now I'm on a quest to make an actual homemade granola bar. If you have a good recipe, please pass it along. I'll probably leave out raisins if they're involved, but otherwise I'm game for most anything.