A friend of mine posted a website on her facebook page on how to make your own chewy granola bars....I've always wanted to know how to do that so I gave it a try. Since we enjoyed them, I didn't want to lose the recipe and decided to just post it here for others to try as well.
Here is the website:
http://happymoneysaver.com/no-bake-homemade-chewy-granola-bars/
RECIPE:
1/2 cup sugar or brown sugar (I did brown sugar)
1 1/4 cups honey (original recipe called for 1 1/2 but less works better for me)
1/4 cup coconut oil (original recipe called for 1/3 but less works better for me)
1/4 tsp sea salt
1 cup crunchy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla
4 cups crisp rice cereal
2 2/3 cup old fashioned oats
2/3 cup ground flax seed
1/2 - 1 cup mini chocolate chips
In a large bowl, combine your oats, crispy rice cereal, and ground flax
seed. Stir with a large spoon until well combined. Set aside.
Measure out sugar, honey, coconut oil, and sea salt and place in a sauce
pan over medium heat. Bring it to a boil. Stirring the whole time,
boil for exactly 1 minute so mixture combines and sugars dissolve.
Take
pan off the heat and add in the crunchy peanut butter and vanilla
extract. Stir until smooth.
Pour this Peanut buttery honey deliciousness
over your bowl of oat/crispy rice cereal mixture. Stir until well combined.
Let this mixture sit and cool for about 5-8 minutes. Meanwhile, grab a
large cookie sheet or jelly roll pan (mine is sized at 12½ x 17½ by 1
inch), and some parchment paper. Place cookie sheet on a large piece of
parchment paper and trace around the outside of it. Cut it out and place
this on the inside of your cookie sheet. It should fit perfectly. This
will help later to keep the granola bars in one piece before cutting up.
Believe me on this. I tried greasing the pan and it didn’t work.
After the mixture has cooled enough that the mini chocolate chips wont
melt upon contact, pour the granola mixture out onto the large cookie
sheet. Spread mixture out evenly.
Next, tear off another large piece of parchment paper and place this
over your granola mixture. Take another jelly roll pan or cookie sheet
the same size and place it on top of the parchment. Press down. This
will help to compact the granola so that the bars will stay together and
not fall apart. Little helpers love to do this part.
Remove cookie sheet and parchment, sprinkle mini chocolate chips evenly
over the top and repeat the process above, taking the parchment paper
and extra cookie sheet and pressing the two together so that the
chocolate chips get pressed into the bars.
Remove parchment paper and cookie sheet. If you have fridge space, place
cookie sheet in the fridge to finish cooling. If not, it can finish
cooling on the counter just as well. Once the bars have cooled
completely, slide solidified mixture out of your pan.
Cut the bars into the size of your choosing. (I cut them into 35 pieces - 7 x 5)
NOTES:
Is parchment paper the same thing as wax paper? Whether it is or not, that's what I used.
The only flax seed I found was in individual pouches inside a bigger box, I think it came out to about 12 pouches. I used 11 when I made the recipe because the box I had came with 21 pouches and I wanted to save the rest for the next time I made them.
Without thinking about it, after putting the chocolate chips onto the smashed granola, I used the same pan to smash them down with.....it had warmed up from pushing down the granola the first time so it melted my chocolate chips all over the place. I recommend using another pan to smash them down with the second time if you can or just only pushing for a few seconds.
Wrap them individually with Saran Wrap. They stay very soft and chewy if you don't keep them in the fridge and I mean very soft and easily fall apart for children. If you keep them in the fridge, they hold their form better and are still very chewy. They can also be frozen if you put them in a freezer bag.....then it can go straight into a lunch box that morning.
When I was explaining this recipe to my husband and told him I used rice cereal, he thought I was talking about baby food - haha.
OPINIONS:
EVERYONE loves them. They are so yummy and I will definitely be making them over and over and over again.
Weight Watchers = 5 points plus value
