Easy Homemade Granola Bars

Are you sick of the hard to pronounce ingredients in your kids granola bars? You shouldn't need a chemical engineering degree to know what's in your food. These easy homemade granola bars are quick to make and taste way better than the mass produced versions. 

INGREDIENTS:

1 cup creamy peanut butter

pinch of salt if using unsalted peanut butter

1/3 cup maple syrup or agave

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 cups quick oats

1 cup brown rice crisp cereal

1 heaping tablespoon flax meal

2 tablespoons hemp hearts

1/3 cup chocolate chips

INSTRUCTIONS:

1.  Line an 8-inch square baking dish with parchment paper. In a small saucepan over medium-low heat, whisk together the peanut butter, salt, maple syrup, and vanilla extract.

2.  In a medium bowl, stir together oats, cereal, flax meal and hemp hearts. Add the wet peanut butter mixture to the dry ingredients and stir with a rubber spatula until combined. Mixture should hold together when pressed into a ball. If it is too dry, add a little more syrup until the mixture sticks together.

3.  Press oat mixture firmly into the prepared dish. I use a ramekin coated with cooking spray. If topping with chocolate, place chocolate chips in a microwave safe bowl. Heat at 30 second intervals, stirring between, until melted. Drizzle over bars by dipping a fork into the chocolate.

4.  Place in the refrigerator or freezer until set, about 1 hour. Cut into bars. Store granola bars in the refrigerator, covered. These bars do tend to get crumbly at room temperature and are best eaten cold. 

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