Granola Bars

I don't know about your family but mine needs Snacks.  All kinds of snacks!  We love the staple granola bar but they're full of junk and super expensive considering how fast my little kids go through them.  I found this recipe a couple years ago on Pinterest and Loved it!  I love the versatility, ease, and quickness of this recipe and my kids love the taste and coming up with their favorite combinations!  Some of our favorites so far are Cinnamon Raisin, Orange Cranberry, S'mores, Peanut Butter, and Peanut butter Chocolate Chip.  I hope you love this recipe and can create your families favorites at a fraction of the cost! 

For the basic recipe you need:

1/2 t vanilla
1/4 c butter
1/4 c honey
1/3 c packed brown sugar
3 cups dry ingredients; which includes but is not limited to: puffed rice, puffed wheat, puffed millet, and oats.  Any combination you want as long as it adds up to 3 cups.
 2 Small hand fulls of your favorite add-ins!  

Directions:

Stir together dry ingredients in a large bowl and set aside.  

In a small pot melt butter, honey, and brown sugar on med-hi heat until it comes to a boil.  Reduce the heat to Lo and cook for 2 minutes stirring constantly.  Stir in Vanilla.  

Pour over your dry ingredients and mix well to coat well.  

Quickly stir in you add-ins.  If you want your marshmallows, chocolate chips, or peanut butter chips to be melted a little you can stir them into the dry mix before pouring the hot mixture over.  Peanut butter can be put in before the hot mixture also.  

Once everything is mixed well pour into a lightly greased baking sheet and with a piece of wax paper tightly pack it onto the pan.  

  

This part is important!  Pack it tight!  The tighter you pack it the better they'll hold together.  Let the pan sit on your counter for 2 hours or in your fridge for 20 minutes to completely cool and then cut!  Individually wrap them in parchment paper or plastic wrap and store at room temperature or put all of 1 kind in a ziploc or tupperware and store in your fridge or freezer if they're crumbly.  I like mine in the freezer because they don't get too warm and melt or fall apart if my little ones want to hold them until its time to eat them.  

Tips:  If your bars aren't staying together pack them tighter and try reducing the butter by 1T next time.
 1 recipe makes about 12 bars so I make a batch per kind we're making that day. 
You can buy the puffed dry ingredients at any Sprouts type store.  Watch for sales and you can frequently get them for $1 a bag.






Ideas:
Cinnamon Raisin - add 1t cinnamon and 2 hand-fulls of raisins
Cranberry Orange- add 2 hand-fulls craisens and 1t orange zest
Peanut Butter - 1/2c peanut butter and peanut butter chips if you want *you can add the peanut butter before the hot mixture
Chocolate Chip - 2 hand-fulls mini chocolate chips
M&M's - 2 hand-fulls mini m&m's
S'mores - 1 big hand-full mini white marshmallows and 1 big hand-full chocolate chips *add in bowl before hot mixture so they get nice a gooey when hit with the heat!

Peanut Butter Chip

Cranberry Orange

S'Mores

Be Creative and Enjoy!

 

STATS:

Better? When you and your kids get to make your own custom creations that's always better!!  *check*

Healthier? While alot of chewy granola bars are finally made without high fructose corn syrup they are still LOADED with sugar and are definitely closer to a candy bar.  These are not absent of all things sweet and delicious but there's still far less sugar and these are also made with honey -an all natural and good for you sweetener- which helps.  Also, with these you can use the dry ingredients you like and make it as healthy as you want.  In the end...there's nothing in your new granola bars that you can't pronounce and don't know exactly where it came from! *check*

Cheaper? A box of Chewy granola bars is around $4 for 10!  Cost for your custom bars...$.75 for dry ingredients, and maybe $1 total for everything else-although its really all stuff from the pantry.  Total maybe $1.75 for 12? *check*