Homemade peanut butter granola bars

You're going to want to make these bars. They're easy to make, low in refined sugars, and a hit with kids.

Thu, Mar 19 2009 at 10:07 AM EST

Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I’ve got a recipe for you for homemade granola bars that uses much less refined sugar than many of the recipes I’ve seen in the past. I made them the other day for my family, and they were a hit with all. Even my son’s friends, who first looked at me a little strange when I offered them homemade granola bars after school yesterday, took second helpings.

The recipe is tweaked a little bit from a recipe I found on the PassionateGreen recipe blog. PassionateGreen tweaked it from a Taste of Home recipe. If you make it, you’ll probably do a little tweaking of your own.

Ingredients:

½ cup peanut butter (I’ve found that when trying to make granola-type bars that a peanut butter that has a little oil added to it works better than a peanut butter that is simply peanuts and salt).
1/3 cup agave syrup (could also use honey)
1 egg
2 tbsp canola oil
1 tsp vanilla
3 ½ cups slow cooking oats
¼ cup brown sugar
½ tsp salt
1/3 cup chocolate chips
1/3 cup raisins

Time Estimates

Prep time: 10 min

Cook time: 15 min

Total time: 25 min

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350°
Spray a 13x9 pan with cooking spray
Mix all ingredients together in a bowl
Press ingredients down flat into prepared pan
Cook in oven for 12 -15 minutes until edges begin to brown
Let cool so it firms up; if you try to cut while still warm, it will crumble

Makes one pan

*As always, using organic ingredients turn this into an organic recipe. If you can’t afford everything organic, your best option would be to buy the oats or peanut butter in their organic form since they make up a bulk of the recipe. Organic oats usually don’t cost much more than conventional ones, especially if you can get them from a bulk bin.

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