Various Soft Granola Bars Are Sure To Please Everyone

Dear Laura: Summer’s here, and my teen-agers are in and out of the house and often looking for a quick snack or picnic items to take to the lake. I’d like to make soft granola bar cookies but haven’t found a recipe. Do you have one? - Colleen, Sagle, Idaho

Dear Colleen: This recipe has enough variations to satisfy everyone’s taste. It uses any granola - regular or low-fat, homemade or commercial.

Soft Granola Bars

Adapted from Lois Hill’s “Great Cookies You Can Bake.”

1/2 cup (1 cube) butter or margarine, softened

1/2 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

1 egg

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 tablespoon dark molasses or honey

1 cup flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup granola cereal

1 cup rolled oats

3/4 cup walnuts, coarsely chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Thoroughly coat bottom and sides of a 9- by 13-inch baking pan with butter or nonstick spray.

In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugars. Beat in the egg. Add the vanilla and molasses or honey; mix until well blended.

Combine all dry ingredients, except nuts, in a separate container; stir to blend. Work the flour mixture into the creamed mixture, 1 cup at a time, mixing well after each addition. Stir in the chopped walnuts.

Turn the batter into the prepared baking pan and smooth the surface with the back of a wooden spoon. Bake for about 15 minutes or until the top is firm to the touch and golden brown.

Remove from the oven. Let cool completely, then cut into 2-inch bars.

Yield: About 24 bars.

Chip Variation: Follow the above recipe, adding a 7-1/2-ounce package of semisweet chocolate morsels, milk chocolate morsels, mint morsels, or 1 cup peanut butter morsels and a 7-1/2-ounce package semisweet chocolate morsels to the batter with, or instead of, the chopped walnuts.

Fruit Variation: Follow the above recipe adding 1/2 cup coarsely chopped dried apricots and 1/2 cup golden raisins or 1 cup chopped dried fruit mix to the batter with, or instead of, the chopped walnuts.

Spice Variation: Prepare the above recipe with the following exceptions. Add 1 teaspoon lemon extract with the molasses or honey. Add 1 teaspoon cinnamon, 1/2 teaspoon ground cloves, 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg, and 1/2 teaspoon ground ginger with the dry ingredients.

Dear Laura: I am looking for a round steak recipe that uses crushed gingersnaps for its gravy. I made it a few years ago and lost it. Thanks. - Mary, Pullman

Dear Mary: This is adapted from a 1980 Dorothy Dean version. Enjoy!

German Ragout

2 pounds round steak, 1/2-inch thick

1 to 2 tablespoons vegetable oil

1 envelope dry onion soup mix

2 cups water

3 tablespoons white wine vinegar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 teaspoon Worcestershire sauce

1 bay leaf

5 gingersnaps, crumbled

Spaetzle (German dumplings), optional (recipe follows)

Cut meat in 1-inch squares; brown in hot oil. Stir in onion soup mix, water, vinegar, brown sugar, Worcestershire and bay leaf; bring to boil. Reduce heat; simmer, covered, until meat is tender, about 1-1/2 hours.

Remove bay leaf. Stir in gingersnaps. Simmer 5 minutes or until thickened. Serve over spaetzle.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Spaetzle

2 eggs

1-3/4 cups flour

1/2 cup water

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 cup melted butter

Place eggs in a medium bowl and beat slightly. Stir in flour, water, salt and baking powder; mix well.

Drop by half-teaspoonfuls into rapidly boiling salted water. Cook 2 to 4 minutes (spaetzle will rise to top when done). Drain. Heat in skillet with melted butter.

Yield: 6 to 8 servings.

Dear Laura: I have a bread machine and am unhappy with the results. Most of the bread from it is too coarse and too dark. How can I improve it? - Paul, Coeur d’Alene

Dear Paul: The following pointers were gleaned from a Fleischmann’s Yeast publication, “Better Baking in Your Bread Machine.” For additional information, call their toll-free number, 1-800-777-4959, weekdays between 7 a.m. and 5 p.m. PST.

Too much sugar or fat can inhibit rising and cause overbrowning.

Omitted salt, excess liquid or yeast, or yeast action accelerated by hot, humid weather or overheated liquids may result in open, coarse or holey-textured loaves. Solutions: Reduce water or add flour (by 1-tablespoon portions at a time), or reduce yeast (by 1/4-teaspoon portions) up to 25 to 50 percent of total. Less sugar may also control yeast action.

Another consideration, according to the baking expert who answered my help-line call, is that older bread machines may need servicing and/or new belts, etc. Contact the machine’s manufacturer for guidance.

Dear Readers: With the Walla Walla sweet onion season fast approaching, I’m hoping one of you can help Jill of Spokane, who recently wrote to request a recipe for Onion Stroganoff. The sample she was served used onions instead of noodles and included cream cheese.

Another request: Pam of Colville, Wash., is looking for “Really Bran Muffins,” a recipe that was printed in the Washington Water Power Gazette several years ago. Do any of you have either of these recipes? If so, please send them to the address below.

, DataTimes MEMO: Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Laura Carnie, a certified family and consumer scientist and food consultant in Coeur d’Alene, would like to hear from you. Write to Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Laura Carnie The Spokesman-Review