I’m excited to share this Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars recipe. It’s not just because of the obvious -  such as it’s yummy and has chocolate. After several trial and error attempts, I have a few helpful tips to share with you.  This doesn’t make me an expert but I do hope it makes your granola bar making experience go more smoothly.

Be sure to read the entire recipe and all the tips. I wish I had know about them the first time or the second time or third time I made chewy chocolate granola bars. You get what I mean. I hope my mistakes (I should call them learning experiences) makes it easier on you.

The first thing I tweaked with this recipe was the ratio of oats to rice cereal. Too much or too little oats and it didn’t taste right to my family. You can modify this – it’s may be a personal preference.

This recipe may seem familiar to our No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bites and our Granola Cereal. But out of all the granola recipes I make, Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars are my family’s favorite.

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars Recipe

(adapted from Everyday with Rachel Ray)

• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 cup butter
• 1/2 cup brown sugar
• 2.5 cups oats – I use quick oats
• 1.5 cups crispy rice cereal – I use Rice Krispies
• 1/2 cup mini chocolate chips

Melt butter, honey and brown sugar together in a pan until it bubbles. Simmer on medium low heat about 2 minutes until sugar dissolves.

TIP: This step is important. I’ve made this without simmering until sugar was dissolved and the granola bars did not turn out right.

Remove from heat.

In a separate bowl, combine together the oats and crispy rice cereal. Pour this mix into the wet ingredients in pan. Mix together.

Place granola mixture evenly into a 9×13 ungreased pan and press into pan.

TIP: Let cool for a few minutes before topping with chocolate chips. If the granola mixture is too warm, then you end up with a mess of melted chocolate chips. That’s not the worse thing in the world because chocolate is chocolate.  But, I prefer to keep my chocolate chips in tact.

Top with chocolate chips. Press entire granola mixture firmly into pan. You want to press the mixture into the pan tight so your granola bars are compact and won’t fall apart.

TIP: I discovered a technique to press the granola mixture into the pan. I use another 9×13 pan and place it on top of my granola bars. So, first place parchment paper on top of your Chocolate Chip Granola.

Then place your extra pan on top of that.

Now, press down hard on the pan. Remove the extra pan and parchment paper.

Now, you have nicely packed granola bars.

Set in refrigerator for about 15 minutes. Cut into bars. Enjoy your yummy Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.

Have you made any homemade granola bars?

Have a Sweet Day!

You may also like the following sweets:

• No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bites
• Rainbow Sprinkle Rice Krispies Bites
• Granola Cereal Recipe
• Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins Recipe

(This is linked to Life in Bloom, Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange and The Frugal Girls.)

I am sharing Rice Krispies Treats with a simple but fun twist – Rainbow Sprinkle Rice Krispies Bites. It’s a small change to a classic. I made them bite size and added rainbow sprinkles. They are like little sprinkles of fun.

Lately, I’ve noticed there are several Rice Krispies Treat variations. I’m not talking about different shapes or colors. I mean flavored ones like Lemon Meringue Rice Krispie Treats, Carrot Cake Rice Krispie Treats,  Dulce De Leche Rice Krispie Treats and many more. In fact, I even made Vanilla Cream Rice Krispies Treats in the past. They all sound wonderful to me. But, honestly my family members (kids and husband) prefer the traditional version.

Truth be told, that’s how they are with most desserts – including cakes, cookies and muffins. No foodies in our household. I don’t mind. I like to keep things simple especially in the kitchen.

So, even though this is not a different or fancy Rice Krispies treat, it’s fun, yummy and most importantly, my family will eat it happily.

Rainbow Sprinkle Rice Krispie Bites Recipe

• 3 tablespoons butter or margarine
• 1 package (10 oz., about 40) regular marshmallows or 4 cups miniature marshmallows
• 6 cups Kellogg’s Rice Krispies cereal
• rainbow sprinkles

Melt butter over low heat and then add marshmallows. Stir until melted completely. Add Rice Krispies cereal. Stir until cereal is completely coated.

Add sprinkles… then stir. Add more sprinkles… then stir. Keep repeating the sprinkling step until you’re happy with the amount.

Roll into small ball shapes. I use my fingers to scoop the mixture. Tip: I constantly put butter on the palm of my hands so the mixture won’t stick to my hands.

Optional – Coat top with additional more sprinkles (although, I find this to be is a little tricky).

Have you made any Rice Krispies Treats lately? Do you like it plain or do you like to change it up with different flavors?

Have a Sweet Day!

You may also like the following sweets:

• Vanilla Cream Rice Krispies Treats (Flower Shaped)
• Rice Krispies Birds Nests
• No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bites

(I’m linking up to The Frugal Girls!)

I have a sweet and salty treat to share with you. If you love chocolate covered pretzels – I know I do – then you’ll love our Valentine Chocolate Heart Pretzels. It’s an easy-to-make treat.

This is a variation on the traditional holiday pretzel treat that may already be familiar to you. I make them every year for Christmas using Snyder’s of Hanover Snap pretzels, Hershey Kisses and Christmas colored M&M’s.

To give these sweet treats a Valentine’s Day theme, I used mini (salted) pretzels, heart shaped Hershey chocolates, pink and red M&M’s and Valentine’s Day themed sprinkles. The mini pretzels look more like a heart than snap pretzels. So the combination of the mini pretzels and chocolate hearts go well together.

You could use any small chocolate hearts. For example, I also tried Dove chocolate hearts. The Dove hearts are smaller than the Hershey hearts. I asked my family if they preferred the bigger or smaller chocolate hearts. The answer was the bigger hearts. Their reason was simple- because there’s MORE chocolate.

More Chocolate -that makes sense to me.

Here’s how to make these easy Valentine Chocolate Heart Pretzels:
Place pretzels on a baking sheet. Top each pretzel with a chocolate heart. Bake in oven at 170 degrees for about 3-5 minutes.  (Oven temperature and times may vary.) You want the chocolate soft enough to push an M&M on top. Don’t overcook, though, because the chocolate will melt through the pretzel holes.

I decorated some of the chocolate heart pretzels with only M&M’s, some with only sprinkles and some have both M&M’s and sprinkles.

I also chilled in the refrigerator so the chocolate would harden.

And that’s it! Sweet and salty goodness made easy.

How do you like your chocolate pretzel treats? Do you like it with M&M’s, sprinkles or both?

Have a Sweet Day!

You may also like the following sweets:

• Heart Shaped Sweet Rolls
• Heart Poptarts
• Heart Shaped Brownies
• Chocolate Saltine Toffee Bars

Find other Valentine’s Day ideas HERE.

(I’m linking up to  I’m Lovin’ It, Tutorials & Tips Link Party, Tatertots & Jello - Weekend Wrap Up Party and The Frugal Girls!)

I have spent the past several months trying new from scratch recipes. It’s part of my plan to cook more homemade food in combination with buying less packaged food items. One recipe I tried was homemade granola cereal.

I honestly wasn’t sure if I would like homemade granola because I didn’t eat store bought granola in the past. Now, my granola cereal is a staple in my family’s pantry. I make a big batch of granola cereal on a regular basis – usually once every 7-10 days.

NOTE: All pictures in this post are from making two batches of the recipe. (Recipe was doubled.)

The recipe below is based on one I found on Food.com. I changed it after several attempts. First, the granola cereal was too soft. I like it crunchy. Then I thought it was too sweet so I reduced the brown sugar. The nice thing about granola cereal recipes is you can customize it easily to fit your likes and preferences. If it’s not sweet enough, add sugar. You can also add sunflower seeds and/or dried fruit if you want more than just oats and nuts.

Homemade Granola Cereal Recipe

Ingredients:

• 4 cup old fashioned oats
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/2 cup almonds
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/3 cup butter, melted
• 4 tablespoons honey
• 1/2 cup water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla

Mix together oats, almonds, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl.

In another bowl, mix together butter, honey, water and vanilla.

Pour wet mixture into dry ingredients and mix well.

Spread granola mixture into pan lined with parchment paper. I bake mine in a large cookie sheet. NOTE: All pictures in this post are from making two batches of the recipe. (Recipe was doubled.) If you make this recipe, then it would fit in one big cookie sheet. If you double the recipe, then you will need 2 large cookie sheets.

Bake at 300 degrees for 50 minutes.

After the 50 minutes, take out of oven. Move any granola pieces you feel is “cooked enough” into a bowl to cool. My personal preference is to have brown crunchy granola. I remove only the browned/crunchy pieces from the pan. The rest of the granola, which is soft and light in color,  I leave in the pan. I cook that for another 10-15 minutes. I repeat this until all the granola is cooked the way we like it.

NOTE: All pictures in this post are from making two batches of the recipe. (Recipe was doubled.)

The granola will brown as it cooks. It will also harden more as it cools.

Store in an airtight container.

Hope you have a happy day. And Smile – That is what I did when I saw my son in the background in the picture above.

(This is linked to The Frugal Girls.)

I have shared my favorite muffin recipes with you in previous posts – Banana Oat Mini Muffins, Breakfast Muffins and Chocolate Mini Muffins. Now, I am excited to share these Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins.

This Applesauce muffin is delicious and also happens to be low fat. (Using the Weight Watchers Recipe Builder, one muffin is 5 Points Plus.) I usually bake mini muffins but I like to make these regular sized.

These Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins are a hit with my family. They are great to have for breakfast or a snack.

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Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins recipe

(Recipe from TasteOfHome.com)

Ingredients:

• 3 cups quick cooking oats
• 2-1/2 cups all-purpose  flour
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
• 1-1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
• 1 cup fat-free milk
• 6 tablespoons canola oil
• 2  egg whites

For topping:

• 1/2 cup quick-cooking oats
• 2 tablespoons brown sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 2 tablespoons butter,  melted

Stir together the oats, flour, brown sugar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt together in a large mixing bowl.

In a separate bowl, mix together applesauce, milk, canola oil and egg whites.

Add wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix until moistened. Do not overmix.

Make topping by combining oats, brown sugar, cinnamon and melted butter together.

Coat muffin pans with spray. I like to use Pam Baking Spray. Place batter into muffin pans.  Fill muffin cups about three-fourths full. Add topping onto each muffin.

Bake at 400° for 16-18 minutes. (Oven temperatures may vary, so total baking time may be different for you.) Cool for 10 minutes. Makes around 24 muffins.

Note: I do freeze our Applesauce Cinnamon Oat Muffins. I warm up one muffin for about 30 seconds in the microwave. (Microwave times vary)

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I also have a recipe for Apple Coffee Cake using applesause that is a favorite with my famly. Do you have any favorite recipes that use applesauce?

Happy Cooking!

(This is linked to Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange, I’m Lovin’ It and The Frugal Girls.)

(Note: Some of the links in this post are affiliate links. Read my disclosure policy here.)

I originally posted about these yummy Vanilla Cream Rice Krispies Treats last spring (2011).

Find out how to make them HERE.

Here’s a yummy Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars Recipe. It’s no bake and easy to prepare.

Warning: Unlike some of my sweet recipes, this is NOT low fat. I cut my bars into small squares. This is my attempt at portion control.

I have been wanting to try this recipe for some time. It is from AllRecipes.com. Recently, I noticed Peanut Butter Bars are popular and can be found all over the internet (on blogs and Pinterest.) My blogger buddy, Janae of Keeping Cents, made some last week and posted about it on her Facebook page. This got me motivated to finally make this sweet recipe.

I am glad I did. They are like homemade Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. I love Reece’s Peanut Butter Cups. The difference is the homemade version is not as sweet which I think is a good thing.

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Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars Recipe

(from AllRecipes.com)

Ingredients

For peanut butter filling:

• 2 cups graham cracker crumbs – I used the ones from a box. You could make your own from graham crackers but you need to make sure they are finely crushed.
• 2 cups confectioners sugar
• 1 cup peanut butter
• 1 cup butter, melted

For chocolate topping:

• 1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips
• 4 tablespoons peanut butter

In a bowl, mix the graham cracker crumbs, confectioners’ sugar, peanut butter and melted butter using a hand mixer until well blended. Spread mixture evenly into the bottom of a 9×13 inch pan lined with parchment or wax-paper.

Melt the chocolate chips with the peanut butter stirring until smooth. Spread melted chocolate mixture over the peanut butter filling mixture.

Refrigerate for at least one hour. I refrigerated for 1.5 hours and it was fine. Cut into squares.

Store in refrigerator.

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NOTES

• Some make this in a 9×9 pan. I prefer the bars thin so I make it in a 9×13 pan.
• I cut the bars into small squares (a little more than 1 inch square) so they are like Mini Reeces Peanut Butter Cups.
• I store them in the freezer.

Do you like the combination of chocolate and peanut butter?

Happy Cooking!

(This is linked to Old Fashioned Recipe Exchange and The Frugal Girls.)