Chewy Oat & Granola Bars, Gluten Free

Instructions

1. 1

   Heat the oven and line the pan

   Set an oven rack in the middle position and heat the oven to 350°F (175°C). Line a 9-inch square pan with parchment, letting two sides hang over by an inch or so — those flaps are how you'll lift the whole slab out later. Lightly butter or spray the parchment.

2. 2

   Toast the oats and almonds

   Spread the gluten-free oats and sliced almonds on a rimmed baking sheet and toast for 9 to 11 minutes, stirring once halfway through, until the oats smell nutty and the almonds are just blond at the edges. Slide them into a large bowl and let them cool for about 5 minutes.

3. 3

   Add the dry ingredients

   To the bowl with the warm oats, add the gluten-free flour blend, xanthan gum, cinnamon, baking soda, and salt. Stir thoroughly until no pale streaks remain — gluten-free blends are fine and powdery and will pocket if you stir casually, and the xanthan especially needs to be dispersed evenly.

4. 4

   Whisk the binder

   In a medium bowl, whisk the melted butter, brown sugar, and honey until smooth and glossy with no sugar lumps. Whisk in the egg and vanilla until the mixture looks like a thin caramel. Make sure the butter has cooled to just-warm before the egg goes in, or you'll get little cooked flecks.

5. 5

   Combine and rest the mixture

   Pour the binder over the oat mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated. Cover the bowl and let it rest at room temperature for 25 minutes. This is the one step you shouldn't skip in the gluten-free version: the rice and starch in the blend need time to absorb liquid, and without it the baked bars taste gritty. The mixture will look noticeably thicker and less wet afterward. Fold in the cranberries and chocolate chips at the end of the rest.

6. 6

   Press firmly into the pan

   Scrape everything into the prepared pan. Press hard — harder than feels polite. Use the flat bottom of a measuring cup or a second sheet of parchment under your palms and compact the mixture into a tight, level slab, paying attention to the corners and edges. Gluten-free bars have no gluten network holding them together, so mechanical compression is doing all the work here.

7. 7

   Bake until the edges are set

   Bake for 25 to 28 minutes, until the edges are deep golden and the center is set with only a slight give. The gluten-free version needs a few extra minutes and should look a shade darker at the edges than the wheat version before you pull it — underbaked, it will be sandy rather than chewy.

8. 8

   Cool completely, then chill before cutting

   Cool the pan on a wire rack until fully at room temperature, at least 90 minutes, then chill the slab in the fridge for a full hour before slicing. Gluten-free bars are considerably more fragile warm, and the cold sets the starches so the bars cut cleanly. Lift out by the parchment flaps and cut into 16 bars with a long sharp knife, wiping the blade between cuts.

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Baker's Tips

• 1.

  Use old-fashioned rolled oats, not quick or instant — quick oats are cut finer and absorb liquid differently, giving you a pasty, dense bar instead of a chewy one.

• 2.

  Swap the cranberries and chocolate for an equal volume of any chopped dried fruit, seeds, or chips. Keep the total mix-ins at about 1 cup so the binder can still hold everything together.

• 3.

  For a sturdier lunchbox bar, bake the full 25 minutes and chill overnight before slicing. For a softer, more tender bar, pull at 22 minutes.

• 4.

  If your honey has crystallized, warm it with the butter until fluid — stiff honey won't coat the oats evenly and you'll end up with dry patches.

• 5.

  Maple syrup can replace the honey, but the bars will be slightly less sticky and a touch more fragile. Brown rice syrup or golden syrup are closer substitutes.

• 6.

  Scaling up to a 9x13 pan? Use 1 1/2 times everything and bake 25 to 28 minutes, watching the edges rather than the clock.