Granola Bars

One of our favorite snacks is a good granola bar. And nothing tops homemade. The kids love to take these to school for snack time or grab as we are running out the door for soccer. We've been experimenting with different recipes found on Pinterest, and have tweaked them to our liking. The recipe below was adapted from The Spiffy Cookie's No-Bake Peanut Butter Granola Bars. Her granola bars are delicious as written, but I wanted to add a few things to change things up a bit. We also usually double the recipe below, and put in a 9x13 pan, plus a smaller 4x4 pyrex dish.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups quick oats
• 1/2 cup crispy rice cereal
• 3/4 cup chopped pretzels
• 1/4 cup flax seed
• 2 Tbsp shredded sweetened coconut
• 1 Tbsp chia seeds
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup miniature chocolate chips (if desired)

Directions:

1. Lightly coat the bottom of a 9 inch x 13 inch baking dish with a nonstick spray. Cut a piece of wax paper large enough to cover the dish.
2. In a large mixing bowl, stir the quick oats, crispy rice cereal, chopped pretzels (I give mine a quick swirl in the food processor), flax seed, shredded coconut and chia seeds.
3. In a small sauce pan, whisk the butter, brown sugar and honey together over medium-low heat until it begins to bubble. Once it bubbles, turn the stove down to low and continue to whisk for two additional minutes.
4. Remove from the heat and whisk in the peanut butter and vanilla extract.
5. Pour the liquid mix over the dry mix in the bowl, and stir to make sure everything is coated.
6. Pour it all in to the 9x13 baking dish. 
7. If you feel the need to add in mini chocolate chips, now's the time to sprinkle them on the top.
8. Use the wax paper to press firmly on the top of mixture, pressing it down so there's no air in between the bits and pieces. Be sure to press evenly so the bars will stay together.
9. Place in the refrigerator for an hour to harden, then slice into bars. 

We like to store these in the refrigerator until ready to eat. Then we pull them out and let sit for a few minutes to come to room temperature.

If you make these, I'd love to hear your thoughts and feedback!