No Bake Granola Bars: SO easy and delicious

A new favorite. 

My cousin posted a link to this recipe on facebook and I'm so glad I saw it. 

It was such a fast and easy recipe. So fast. And good. And healthy. Healthier and faster than my other granola bar recipe that we love around here. I think I may have to just wean them off of the original and stick with this one. I am just going with the easy route but I am so tired this pregnancy and so easy it is. But remember...healthy too!

I want to apologize about the lack of another real recipe, but this is just what I'm doing right now so enjoy this recipe. Really. Try it. They turned out delish! 

No Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Here is a link to the website that this recipe came from.

1/4 cup Butter
1/4 cup Honey
1/3 cup packed Brown Sugar (These were really sweet bars, I recommend cutting this in half, or at least down to 1/4 cup)
2 cups Quick Cooking Oats 
1 cup Crispy Rice Cereal (For some reason my kids love this cereal so I always have it on hand.)
1/2 teaspoon Vanilla
2 tablespoons mini Chocolate Chips

*I followed the recipe ingredients exactly but next time I would cut the sugar and add some more healthy stuff. Maybe some nuts, or dried fruit or hemp hearts

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside. 

In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. (I think that you should cook a minute longer. I know that there is a risk in it burning but I think they will hold together better. Mine didn't turn out crumbly but I think they may stick better with this trick).

  Pour in vanilla and stir. Pour over dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients.

 Pour into lightly greased small jelly roll pan (about 12x8x1) and press out to be about 3/4 inch in thickness. 

(If your pan is larger than this just use one end to get it to the thickness that is stated above.)

Sprinkle with mini chocolate chips and press down lightly (I sprayed my hands with 'Pam' to keep the ingredients from sticking all over me). Cool on a counter top to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting into bars.

I used snack sized zip-top bags for my bars and they fit perfect. 

Here is a note from the recipe I followed:     

 If your granola bars don’t seem to be staying together when you cut them, you may have made them too thin or you didn’t pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together. {Be sure not to keep them in there too long or else they’ll become super hard!} The next time you make them, try reducing the butter to 3 tablespoons and really packing them down.

These bars are seriously yummy. Whip some up right this minute!

Click Here

Homemade Granola Bars; Sweet and Fun

How do you feel about granola bars? I know, what kind of a question is that? They are easy to grab, kids will eat them no question and they have oatmeal so they are filling. In other words they are great. But let me tell you about my issue with store bought granola bars (and most prepared foods available at the grocery store) I don't really know what is in them. So now you all know why I make my own gnocchi, pizza, samosas, bread, cookies, and granola bars. I'm a control freak about what food my family eats. I just have major issues with not knowing what half of the ingredients are in a product when I can make them at home and know exactly what they are eating. This is not to say I don't buy prepared foods ever. I do. But I try to make as much at home as I can. Luckily I like to be in my kitchen (even though it is crowded and tiny).

I grew up on fresh baked bread, cinnamon buns, home cooked suppers and a lot of other things. My parents had and still have a large garden which we spent some time in; and my dad a lot of time in, so we could have fresh vegetables. But my parents didn't spend hours rototilling or kneading bread dough so that they would know what we were eating. It was cheap. Yes, it required work but when there are 11 mouths to feed you take the less convenient route to stretch dollars. In the process of making the money stretch though, they created me. I prefer fresh food. I know that homemade tastes better, and is healthier for you just because it isnt full of preservatives to extend its shelf life.

One day I hope to have a little farm where I can have my own garden, maybe some fruit trees, a few chickens (fresh eggs are so much nicer), and maybe a cow. Or a goat. I haven't decided. 
I want to have fresh food at my fingertips. 


Alright. my rant is done. For now. This brings me back to granola bars. We like them. but I don't like what is in them so I make my own. (I want you to know that I don't always do this. Just having extra boxed food is nice and easy, but  I do try to have homemade. I try) This is the granola bar recipe that we like best (probably because they tastes most like store bought). These are not healthy exactly. The recipe calls for Sweetened Condensed Milk, which is raw milk, heated until the water evaporates and a whack load of white sugar added. I want you all to know I'm not claiming these are healthier than store bought bars because they are low in sugar or fat; not at all. I am telling you that they are healthier because you will know what you are eating.
I think that counts for something.

Homemade Granola Bars

2 2/3 cup of Quick Cooking Oats

1 cup of Chopped Nuts

1 1/2 cup of Dried Fruit (raisins, craisins etc)

1 cup of Sunflower Seeds (or any other seed; I use Hemp Hearts)

1/2 cup of Chocolate Chips

1/2 cup of melted Butter

1 Can of Sweetened Condensed Milk (this is why they taste so good)

Preheat oven to 325. Line cookie sheet or cake pan with Parchment Paper. Mix all ingredients together (make sure you don't our your hot melted butter directly onto your chocolate chips or they will melt). Press into pan and bake for 25 - 30 minutes or until golden brown. Make sure you check the middle that it looks cooked too. 

Cool and remove from oven. Cut into bars. 

Click Here