Snack for School :: Chewy Granola Bars

Breakfast has never been my favorite meal.  Growing up we had cereal almost everyday, and there wasn’t a lot of variety in the types we had in the house at one time.  Soggy cereal grossed me out, so if I couldn’t eat it quick enough I would be gagging by the end of the bowl.

As an adult I have the choice, obviously, of what to eat for breakfast, but I still struggle with the same cereal problems.  I’ll eat it, but I’d much rather have eggs, bacon, and biscuits.  However, there’s no way I’m going to cook that everyday.  Smoothies are great, but usually I’m hungry about an hour later.

This granola bar recipe is the perfect solution for my breakfasts.  I’m usually sitting between my two youngest feeding both of them oatmeal, so I give Jennavieve a bite, take a bite myself, then Mason, and repeat.  With a granola bar, I can eat it and it doesn’t get soggy.  Or, I can munch on it easily while I clean up the kitchen.

The best part:  I ate these for a whole week and never got tired of them.  AND, I never felt hungry until lunchtime.  You don’t need to turn on the oven and they keep in the refrigerator.  While I like these for breakfast, they would be a great healthy and filling snack option.

You could easily substitute almond butter for the peanut butter, coconut oil for the butter, and any 2-cup combination of nuts, dried fruit, or seeds would work (I even saw one recipe that used crisp rice cereal as part of the add-ins).

I’ve made this recipe twice now, and the second time tweaked the amounts a little bit to suit my tastes.  The original recipe called for 2/3 cup honey, but that was a bit sweet for me, so I cut it back to 1/2 cup.  I also added more oats than called for, which made them a bit firmer the second time around.  The fun thing with granola bars is that you can play around with the ingredients a little bit, making them your own, and you won’t totally mess them up.  

Chewy Granola Bars

1 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup butter
3 cups oats (I used Old Fashioned)
1 cup chopped raw almonds (big or small chunks are fine)
1/2 cup Craisins
1/2 cup shredded coconut

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine peanut butter, honey and butter until melted.  Remove from heat and add oats, almonds, Craisins and coconut.  Press into a greased 8×11 inch pan.  Cool until hardened.  Store in the refrigerator, either covered with saran wrap or in an airtight container.

source:  slightly adapted from Annapolis and Company