Homemade Granola Bars

These are absolutely perfect! The crunchy, the chewy, the easy. This recipe has it all, and I had it all in my stockpile! Sweet! But, speaking of sweet, these are very very sweet. Next time we will try cutting the sugar in half and limiting the chocolate/peanut butter chips to 1/2 Cup total. I will also vary this recipe another time using craisins and chopped dark chocolate...maybe even almonds as well. Yum yum!

Thanks again to Simple Organized Living for this recipe!

Ingredients:

• 1/2 c. honey or corn syrup {I used 1/4 c. of each}
• 1/2 c. brown sugar
• 1/2 c. peanut butter
• 2 c. quick oats
• 2 c. Rice Krispy cereal
• 1/4 c. ground flax seed
• 1 or 2 T. wheat germ {optional — and I did not add this}
• 1 c. total of your favorite mix-ins {I used chocolate chips, but you could also mix and match dried fruit, nuts, seeds, etc.}

Directions:

:

In a small sauce pan, mix honey {or corn syrup} and brown sugar.
Cook over medium-high heat until sugar is completely dissolved – stirring constantly.
Remove from heat and quickly stir in peanut butter.
Mix the oats, cereal, flax seed, and optional wheat germ in a large bowl.
Pour honey mixture over dry ingredients — mix well.
Stir in chocolate chips, nuts, fruit, and any other “mix-ins”


Press mixture into a 9″ x 13″ pan that has been greased or lined with wax paper. {I find it works best when I put another piece of wax paper on top of the bars and press down with a measuring cup.}

Let cool and “firm up” —  kind of like Rice Krispy Bars

Cut into bars and store in an air-tight container. I cut mine into 24 bars that were about 1″ x 4″ {8 rows by 3 rows}. I used a pastry cutter/scraper because it cuts really straight lines — but a long knife would work just fine too.
And since I used chocolate chips, I figured it would be best to store our granola bars in the refrigerator so they don’t melt!