Granola Bars

On Fridays I like to try to do a cooking/baking project with the kids.  Neither of them have school on Fridays, so it's a great day for both of them to be involved.  Today, we decided on homemade Granola Bars!

I researched quite a few recipes, and decided on THIS one.

Gobble Up Granola Snacks

2 1/2 cups crispy rice cereal

2 cups quick cooking oats

1/2 cup raisins

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

A few changes I made:

Instead of oil I used honey

1/4 cup brown sugar instead of 1/2 cup

1 cup of raisins instead of 1/2 cup

I added Wheat Germ and Milled Flaxseed

I used creamy Peanut Butter instead of Crunchy

I added 1/2 cup Chocolate Chips

So, I had my trusty Sous Chefs, Ava and Luke in place, and we began!

Here's Ava measuring the Rice Krispies:

And here's Luke getting the Raisins measured.  (And, no, folks, you're not seeing things!  Lukie doesn't have any pants on!  We're full-speed-ahead potty training, so underpants only!)

Here's our Granola Bar mix:

The kids loved helping pat the mixture down on the jelly roll pan:

And, here's our finished product all patted out:

The recipe didn't call for it, but I decided to put the pan into the freezer to "flash freeze" it to set them more quickly.  I kept them there for about 30 minutes and when I pulled them out, they were perfectly set.........so, I cut them and, of course, we tasted them and the were DELICIOUS!!  This recipe yields such a soft and tasty treat!

I wasn't quite sure how I should store them, so I thought I'd individually wrap them to make them true Granola Bars!

Here's how I did it:

Pull out a piece of wax paper and cut it in half.  Set a bar on it:

Turn it, then pull up on the top and bottom of the waxed paper:

Roll them down together:

Then fold the two ends like you were wrapping a present and fold them under the bar:

Voila!  There you have it!  Your very own, packaged, homemade granola bar:

I stashed some in the freezer and kept the rest in the fridge.  What a great afternoon snack, or lunch item!!  They really are so tasty, very frugal and much healthier than the store bought ones!!!  (And, since I'm frugal-that-way----I'll be saving all the waxed paper to package my next batch!!)

Here's a breakdown of what it cost me to make these:

Rice Krispies:  The entire box was 25 cents, so 2 1/2 cups would be about 10 cents

2 Cups Quick Cooking Oats:  Again, I got the canister for 25 cents, so 2 cups, about 10 cents

1 cup Raisins:  Canister cost me $1, so, about 25 cents

1/4 cup Brown Sugar:  Bought a big bag at Costco for $2.50, so, about 10 cents

1/2 cup Honey:  Big jar of honey for $2.50, so, about 25 cents

1/2 cup Peanut Butter:  This jar was FREE, so, FREE

1/2 cup Chocolate Chips:  Bought HUGE bag at Costco for $4.50, so, about 25 cents.

TOTAL:  $1.05

Recipe yielded about 30 Granola Bars----that's about 3 CENTS per bar!!  On average, a box of 8 granola bars that you would purchase at the store are about $2.50-$3.00 a box and sometimes full of preservatives and not-so-great-stuff!

This is one frugal (and tasty!) Granola Bar!!