I have never made my own granola bars before. I was always intimidated. But I decided to give them a try, and I will never look back. My neighbor just had a baby, and my blogging friends said that new moms love snacks. Especially if they are breast feeding because they are hungry all day, and it is nice to just grab something. I decided to make her something somewhat healthy, tasty and not too difficult for me to make.
I brought them over to my neighbor and she was more than thrilled. I individually wrapped them to keep them fresh, and to grab on the go. She asked me for the recipe and wants to make them again because they are so delicious. I love that they are no-bake, so they are super easy, and I don’t have to turn the oven on. It is still hot here in Phoenix, and I don’t like to turn my oven on unless it is absolutely necessary.
I decided to make peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars, but that is just because I love those two things. And I knew my husband would like the leftover corner edges. And he did. But you can add in anything you like. In fact, I wanted to add in sliced almonds, but forgot. I may have to do that next time because I think it would be super good.
There are tons of add-ins that you could replace, or make your own type of granola bar. Usually 1/3 cup of any will be plenty for the granola bars. The flavors are endless.
- Coconut
- Chocolate Chips
- Dried Cranberries
- White Chocolate Chips
- Sliced Almonds
- Chopped Walnuts
- Chopped Pecans
- Chopped Pretzels
- Raisins
- M&M’s
Ingredients
- 2 cups quick cooking oats (or pulse whole oats in a food processor a bit)
- 1 C rice crispy cereal
- 1/4 C butter
- 1/4 C honey
- 1/2 C brown sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 tsp vanilla
Instructions
- In a large mixing bowl, mix together the oats and cereal. Set a small saucepan over medium high heat and melt the butter. Add the honey, brown sugar and salt. Stir together then leave it alone as it comes to a boil. Once the boil has reached all the way around the edges of the pan, begin timing. Allow this mixture to boil for 2 minutes and 15 seconds. During this time, you may need to turn the heat down a bit so it doesn’t overflow, but be sure it keeps boiling. Make sure not to cook it longer than the 2 min 15 seconds, or it will burn or make the granola crunchy rather than chewy. Add 2 Tb of peanut butter to the finished sugar mixture before pouring it over the oats.
- Pour the mixture over the oats, using a rubber spatula to get all the sugar mixture out of the pan. Mix the ingredients together until the oats are completely coated. Once mixed with the oats, add 1/2 C peanut butter chips before pressing firmly into the pan. If you do not press firmly enough, the bars will fall apart when you eat them. Place them in the fridge for 20 minutes, let sit a few minutes so it is easy to cut to size.
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