No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Granola Bars

The two big girls are off at their activities this afternoon and the youngest and the dog are at the park with Daddy, so it was time for me to whip up a few snacks in the kitchen for this upcoming week while the house was quiet.  In the last few weeks I have been so busy that our snack basket has been filled with more convenience items than homemade, so I wanted to refill our grab and go snack basket with some of our favorite homemade items.

I got ready to put together a batch of No Bake Granola Bars when I realized we did not have any cheerios on hand except for the apple cinnamon flavored ones.  I had already poured the honey and brown sugar into the sauce pan, so I looked around in our cereal stash to see what might make a good substitute.  We had a half-eaten box of Cocoa Krispies in the cupboard, so I thought I'd give that a try.

I'm licking my lips as I write this post, because this combination of old fashioned oats, Cocoa Krispies, and the sweet peanut butter goo that holds them all together is delicious!  In fact, they might even be better than my other recipe.  I topped them with a few chocolate chips and those were still a little melty during my taste test.  I hope there are still enough left for the week's after school snacks by the end of the day!  These are going to be a big hit with the snackers in our house!

Here's the recipe:

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Granola Bars
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup peanut butter
2 cups old fashioned oats
2 cups Cocoa Krispies
1/2 cup chocolate chips

1.  In a medium saucepan, bring the honey and brown sugar to a slight boil (just enough to dissolve all the sugar crystals) stirring constantly.
2.  Remove from heat and stir in the peanut butter.
3.  Add in the oats and rice krispies stirring gently until they are all coated in the peanut butter goo.
3.  Spread with a spatula in a greased 9x13 pan.
4.  Sprinkle with chocolate chips and press down slightly on them.
5.  Let cool and cut into bars.

(or eat them while they are still warm!)

No Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Rice Krispy Granola Bars

Cooled bars may be individually wrapped ready to be eaten by hungry snackers, frozen to be enjoyed later on, or stored in a large container for a few days.

What's your favorite homemade grab and go snack item?

Overnight Granola

"I could eat this all day long. . . for all 3 meals and snacks in between!" remarked the 8 year old Cereal Monster when I served up a bowl of this super easy Overnight Granola. 

Overnight Granola

I started experimenting with different granola recipes this summer.   The Cereal Monster gets her love of cereal from her dad.  He starts every day with a bowl full of grain-filled goodness.  He prefers a hearty, nuggety type cereal best (like Grape Nuts or Kashi or granola).  As I read others' recipes at creating low cost, homemade cereals, I thought I'd give it a try.  While they all were tasty, they were a bit too time consuming for my quick and easy meal preferences.

That is. . . until I came across this recipe for a granola that you bake for 10 minutes and then let sit overnight in your oven.  There's no stirring and no worrying that your oats are burning and no setting aside a two hour block in which to bake the granola.   I put together a batch in 5 minutes the other night while I waited for the 11 year old to come back from her violin lesson.  I spread it out on a large cookie sheet, put it in my already warm oven for 10 minutes, turned off the oven when the timer went off, and then let the magic take place.  When we woke up, there was a tray of honey glazed, cinnamony, crunchy, healthy goodness just waiting to be eaten.  It doesn't get any easier than that!

Here's the recipe:

Overnight Granola
7 cups of old fashioned oats
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup canola oil
1/2 cup honey
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp salt

1.  Place the oats in a large mixing bowl.
2.  Combine the brown sugar, oil, and honey in a pyrex measuring cup.
3.  Microwave for 1 min 30 seconds; stir
4.  Add the vanilla and cinnamon to the oil/sugar/honey mixture.
5.  Pour the spiced liquids over the oats and stir until covered; sprinkle with 1/4 tsp salt.
6.  Spread the oats on a parchment lined cookie sheet.
7.  Place cookie sheet in a preheated 375 degree oven.
8.  Turn oven off after 10 minutes.
9.  In the morning, remove pan from oven and break up granola.
10.  Store in airtight container or large ziploc bag.

I think what I liked best about this recipe (besides the ease) was the versatility of these simple oats.  There are all sorts of ways you can customize them to suit your tastes.  Here's an example of how we enjoyed them today at our house:

• I ate mine with a bowl of Greek yogurt for breakfast.
• John added nuts, raisins, and M&Ms to make a snack mix to take to work.
• The big girls each had a big bowl with milk as an afterschool snack.
• The 3 year old ate hers with a few mini marshmallows while I finished fixing dinner.
• The 11 year old wants to try some with fresh fruit for breakfast in the morning.

The next time you have your oven going, put together a batch of this granola.  It's fantastic!

How do you like to eat your granola?