Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Thanks to Crunchy Domestic Goddess, Ella and I got a craving for homemade granola bars yesterday and whipped up a yummy batch!  Now, I’ve never made homemade granola bars, but they looked easy and I knew Ella would enjoy making them with me AND boy were they good!

Normally when I try a new recipe, I usually follow it pretty closely only changing ingredients and measurements that I know are not for me.  Then, the second time around of making it, I’ll go outside the box to do my own thing and actually most of of dishes have no recipes at all.  I think that’s thanks to my mom.  She would have recipes like this -

Add some milk – just enough to look good
eggs
butter – lots of melted
chocolate chips  – whole bag

She was a hoot!  When she first passed away and I would be looking through her recipe book and trying to make her famous Sweet Potato Casserole or Bread Pudding,  I would get so mad and upset at her for not leaving me the correct recipe, but now I know why she didn’t.  It’s because she didn’t have one.  It was just a little of this and that until it “looked” right.  I’ve now inherited that famous trait of hers!

Anyway, here’s our take on Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars…

4 Tbsp Butter
1/2 Cup Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup Honey
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp cinnamon
2 Cups oatmeal
1 Cups rice krispies cereal

The above ingredients were from a recipe on The Suburban Jungle - so I did follow the measurements kinda close since I wanted a  good base.

Then we added:

1/4 cup of coconut
1/2 cup of chocolate chips
1/4 cup walnuts

Then I followed the following directions also from The Suburban Jungle.  (gotta love blog hopping!!)

Combine butter, sugar, and honey in a small sauce pan. Combine all other ingredients in a large bowl and mix. Heat the butter mixture until boiling. Boil for 2 minutes, then remove from heat and stir in vanilla and cinnamon.

Pour into the dry ingredients and mix until evenly coated. If you are using chocolate chips, add them now and stir them in. That way they won’t melt.

Spray a bar pan and press the granola into the pan. Cool in the fridge for at about 30 minutes, then slice into bars.

These turned out really good!  They actually reminded me of those Magic Bar Cookies we make at Christmas each year.  Pretty sweet like a cookie.  They kids absolutely LOVE them!  And I love the fact that I know every ingredient in them and they have NO preservatives or weird ingredients.

I’m now on the lookout for a more traditional, granola that isn’t sweet.  If you have a recipe to share…please do so!  I’ll be sure to link up to you!

In the meantime, try this recipe if you have a craving for something sweet.  I bet you could cut the honey and sugar in half if you wanted it a little less sweet and I know it would be just as delicious!

Thanks to Crunchy Domestic Goddess for linking up to The Suburban Jungle for this recipe!!