Granola Bars

Every day, my husband goes to work and brings lunch with him. For years, I used to buy chocolate chip granola bars for him. However, when the prices appeared to rise, I decided to start making them myself at home.

Now, I know what is in them, and I can feel better about what he is bringing to eat.

These are really simple to make, and the ingredients are minimal. He says he enjoys these more than the store version as well, so that makes it a win.

Ingredients:

2 cups quick-cooking oats

1 cup crispy rice cereal

1/3 cup packed light brown sugar

¼ cup honey

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

3 tbsp mini chocolate chips

3 tbsp mini peanut butter chips

Directions:

Lightly coat an 8-inch square baking pan with nonstick cooking spray, then line with parchment paper; set aside.

Turn the pan upside down and lay the foil over top, fold the sides to "mold" the foil

Turn the pan right-side up, and lay the molded foil inside the pan

Lightly spritz the foil with oil

In a large bowl, stir the oats and rice cereal together; set aside.

In a small saucepan, bring the brown sugar, honey, and butter to a boil over medium-high heat, then lower the heat to medium-low and simmer until the sugar dissolves, about 2 minutes. Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract.

Pour the melted mixture over the dry ingredients and mix well until everything is moistened.

Pour the oat mixture into the prepared pan and really press down to ensure that the ingredients are tightly compacted in the pan.

Place cling wrap over the oat mixture

Use a smaller pan or something with a flat surface to press down and compact the oat mixture

Move he cling wrap aside

Add the chocolate and peanut butter chips

Put the cling wrap over top and press down with the pan again

Sprinkle the top evenly with the mini chocolate chips and press down on the top lightly with the back of a spoon or a pan as pictured.

Cool at room temperature for a couple of hours, then slice into bars.

Sorry for the shadow, the sun is really bright this morning

I cut these into 16 bars

Eight snack bags will supply part of a breakfast or snack for my husband for a week and a half, unless he decides to share with a co-worker.