This is my favorite granola bar recipe, and it’s also super flexible – swap out some chocolate for craisins (hah, why would you ever swap out chocolate??), use nutella instead of peanut butter… whatever you do it’s probably going to come out great.  Of course, it’s also only the second granola bar recipe I ever tried, but it was good enough to stick with!(…also, the first was GROSS.)

Using up junk in the cabinet...

Throw everything in a bowl and mix thoroughly, then transfer to a greased 9X13″ pan.

Woo new Pyrex!

Using a spatula or something else flat, press the granola down firmly to flatten/compress.

mmmm

Bake for 10 minutes, press down on the granola again, then bake another ten minutes. Press down again and cool ten minutes. I may be a bit crazy about the pressing down, I just really don’t want my granola bars falling apart all over me. After ten minutes of cooling, cut into bars, but leave in pan.

One last time press down on it, to get any bits that were pulled up while you cut, and then let cool completely, at least 90 minutes. I store them in the fridge or freezer to keep the chocolate from melting, but there’s nothing in them than I can think of that would require refrigeration.

Wrapping them up for later.

Once you’ve got all the bars out of the pan, the best thing to do is take the little bits of tasty stuff left in the bottom and sprinkle them over a bit of vanilla ice cream. Yum!

Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Adapted from Allrecipes.

• 3 1/2 cups rolled oats
• 1 cup Rice Krispies
• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup butter, softened
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 1/3 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups chocolate chips (I do one of white chocolate, one of milk, but go with what you like)

Preheat oven to 325 and lightly grease a 9X13″ pan. Stir together all ingredients and press into pan. Bake 10 minutes and then press down the granola firmly. Bake another 10, press down again, and cool 10 minutes. Cut into bars, press down firmly once more, and then cool completely.