Granola Bars

I have always loved granola bars and I often eat one for breakfast.  Lately I've been seeing lots of people pinning homemade granola bar recipes on Pinterest.  I pinned a couple and then went to the store and bought a big box of Chewy granola bars, haha.  However, I got up the nerve and ingredients to try it myself this past week and it was a great success!  It's really easy, and I've already made a second batch, because we ate the first one so quickly :)  This is the original recipe.

Ingredients:

2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla
handful of mini chocolate chips

Directions:

1.  Mix the oats and rice cereal in a medium sized bowl so they are ready to go.  I used the store brand of both, and they tasted great!  Also, lightly spray a cake sheet with non-stick cooking spray.

2.  In a medium-sized pot, mix the butter, honey and brown sugar on medium heat until the brown sugar has dissolved.  Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to cook for 2 minutes.  If you cook it too long, the granola bars will be harder and if you cook it too short, they will be more crumbly.

3.  Remove from heat and stir in the granola mixture until all of the granola is coated.  Dump the granola into your prepared pan and press it firmly to fill the pan evenly.  You can use a spatula or your hands (once it's cooled a bit), but you need to pack it down pretty hard.

4.  Sprinkle your granola with the chocolate chips and press them down gently so they'll stay put.

5.  Allow the granola to cool for around 2 hours.  Slice into bars.  (The original recipe says that it made about 10 bars, but I got 15 thin bars the first time.  The second time, I doubled the recipe and got 15 thick bars.  My minions liked the thin bars best, because they were softer and  chewier.)