Mama's Granola Bars

It's another recipe day here, and it's an absolute favorite of my kids and their friends. I can't tell you how many times a kid has come up to me at a cross country or track meet just to ask if I brought enough of these to share. They aren't quite as popular as the energy bites I make, but they are a pretty close second! 

By "baby" is nearly starting his second year as an official teen, but when my gaggle of kiddos was itty bitty, we spent a good deal of time qualifying for our state's WIC program. If you have little ones under 5 years old, please check and see if you qualify--the rewards are well worth any headache and required paperwork! Using WIC saved our young family a LOT of money, and made it easier to budget appropriately. And especially when breastfeeding, I would often have trouble finding ways to use up the entirety of our allotted food. I would often use all of our allowed baby food purchases to buy jars of either banana or sweet potato to use in baking treats up for all of us. That allowed me to skip the step of cooking and/or smashing; anything that saves time with young kids is super helpful!

Anyway...back to granola bars. The actual WIC recipe is pictured below, but I was a little mortified when I saw "corn syrup". Luckily for me, everyone was over 1 year old when I first tried this out, so I was able to safely substitute honey for the corn syrup. I was pretty proud of myself for that one. :) I figured it was about the same consistency and both were sweet. What else did I do? Oh, we were and are more of a sweetened dried cranberry family than a raisin family, but raisins work just fine. Chocolate chips melt in and taste delicious, but make for some really messy little hands and faces.

Someday I'll try to figure out a recipe widget to use but for now you just get a plain ol' text recipe. Let me know if you have questions!

Mama's Granola Bars (Half Sheet pan batch)

4 cups rice cereal

4 cups rolled oats

1/2 cup sweetened dried cranberries

[Optional add-ins: pepitas, chocolate chips, nuts, coconut flakes, etc...I can usually get away with about 1 cup total mix-ins before the mixture is out of proportion.]

1 cup brown sugar

1 cup honey

1 teaspoon vanilla

In a large bowl, mix rice cereal, rolled oats, and any other dry mix-in you are using. Set aside.

Heat brown sugar and honey in a saucepan over medium heat. Let this come to a foamy boil, and let it boil for sixty seconds. Remove from heat, and add peanut butter and vanilla. Stir until this peanut butter mixture is completely smooth.

Pour hot peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients. Mix until well-incorporated. Place mixture into a half-sheet pan and flatten out. I tend to use either the cereal bag opened up, or wax paper, and then smooth it out as much as I can with my fingers first. Then, I will take a flat-bottomed dish and flatten it out even more with that. Lots and lots of pressure is the key!

Once everything is smooshed well, let it cool. I tend to pop mine into the fridge, but you can let it cool on the counter if you want. Either way, cut them into bars after they are cooled and enjoy a delicious snack. Yum!