Chewy Granola Bars

Kyle and Mickey were road-tripping back home and I thought they needed something to munch on - I'm sure I'm not the only person who gets in the car and immediately says "I'm hungry", right? These bars are no-bake which is great, and apparently traveled well because Kyle said later that he was still really enjoying them and asked for the recipe - sounds like a keeper granola bar recipe!

I based these on a recipe found here, I'll give you that and then see all my changes below.

• 3/4 cup peanut butter
• 1/2 cup honey
• 2 T. coconut oil
• 1 t. vanilla
• 1/2 t. sea salt
• 2 1/4 cups old-fashioned oats
• 1 cup chopped almonds
• optional: 1/2 cup mini semisweet chocolate chips

My notes: 

-I used 1/2 cup peanut butter and 1/4 cup mixed nut butter

-I sort of cleaned out the pantry when I made these so added chopped chocolate covered almonds instead of plain, added dried berries, cherries and chopped dried apricots, used coarse salt, and added some chocolate chips and butterscotch chips to the top. You can really vary your add-ins with this one. 

Instructions:

1. Line an 8x8" or 9x9" baking pan with parchment paper. Set aside.
2. Stir the peanut butter, honey and coconut oil together in a medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring occasionally, until the mixture reaches a simmer. Continue to simmer for 1 minute, stirring often so that the bottom of the mixtures doesn't burn. Remove from heat.
3. Add the vanilla and salt, stir until combined. Add the oats and almonds, stir until completely combined. Stir in whatever other ingredients you are adding.
4. Press the granola firmly and evenly into the bottom of the prepared pan. (it helps to use the bottom of a glass or measuring cup to press it down so it's nice and flat). Sprinkle a few chocolate chips on top if you like. Then cover and refrigerate the granola bars for about an hour  or so, until they are chilled.
5. Use the parchment paper to lift the bars out of the pan and transfer them to a cutting board. Cut into bars.

store in sealed container for up to 5 days, or freeze for up to 3 months. 

Peanut Butter Granola

Going on a road trip with my sister and 4 nieces...gonna need snacks. I was originally going to make a snack mix recipe that has pretzels, cereal, cheez it's, and ramen noodles but when I told Dave I wanted to make it he "forbid" me from having anything with orange powdery cheese on it in the car! I said "excuse me, we are adults and aren't going to get cheez it's in the car, duh". Then he went on a minor rant about how there's already glitter embedded in the car that he can't get out and to please not add orange powdery cheese to the mess I've made LOL. I laughed, rolled my eyes, and found a different recipe just in case we actually do make an orange mess in the car hahahaha. So we have peanut butter granola instead - if we don't eat it all in the car it'll be great added to some plain greek yogurt for breakfast.

• 1/3 cup smooth peanut butter
• 1/3 cup honey or pure maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil
• pinch of salt
• 1 cup chopped toasted nuts (almonds, peanuts, etc.)
• 3 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips (optional)

1. Preheat the oven to 325'
2. Line a large rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and lightly spray with non-stick cooking spray.
3. In a glass bowl, combine peanut butter, honey or maple syrup, vanilla, coconut oil, and salt. Melt until the ingredients are smooth and well combined. (took me just a few seconds on high).
4. In a large bowl combine the oats and nuts. Pour the peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients, stirring with a wooden spoon until evenly coated.
5. Spread the granola onto the prepared baking sheet, bake for 15-20 minutes stirring a couple times.
6. Let the granola cool completely before stirring in the chocolate chips if you are using.

Yields 4 1/2 cups of granola. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to two weeks. 

found the recipe at Mels Kitchen Cafe.

Crunchy Fruity Granola

Janis has been making this recipe for years, it came out of a children's cookbook so I was thinking it was going to be super sweet or something to get kids to eat it haha, but it isn't - and it's really good!

I've never made granola before, turns out it isn't hard at all and you can easily control the ingredients - just put in what you like. I added white and dark chocolate chips, and sprinkled a little coarse salt in...yum.

Dave is allergic to nuts and it's not easy to find granola without them, so I made him a batch with cranberries, raisins, sunflower seeds, and chocolate chips filled with coconut - delish.

I  have a couple tips for you (and myself next time):

(1) actually read the directions all the way thru before you start, or you'll be picking the cranberries and raisins out of the mix before baking it like me...

(2) instead of spraying the baking sheets with non stick spray like we did, use parchment paper! It stuck to the sheets pretty good and took a lot of scraping to break it up.

We made 5 batches and ended up with 11 pint sized mason jars full. To give as gifts we cut circles of Christmas paper for the top and are putting ribbon around the lid.