Try it Out Tuesday

This week I'm going to start a Try it Out Tuesday.

This Tuesday, my try it out was homemade granola bars.

I pinned this on pinterest: "No Bake Monster Cookie Granola Bars"

I didn't exactly do the same, but here's what I did.  I used her recipe for general direction and made it my own.  This is the receipe from the website

Ingredients

• 2 cups of rolled oats
• 1 cup of crisped rice cereal
• 2/3 cup of honey {of agave, or maple syrup...just something STICKY}
• 2/3 cup of peanut butter
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 cup of m&'s - I used a mix of m&ms and chocolate chips}

Instructions

• combine the oats, and the rice cereal
• add in the peanut butter, honey and vanilla
• mix until everything is thoroughly coated
• spoon into a square baking dish
• add the m&ms
• press firmly in to the pan
• let the bars rest for at least 30 minutes before cutting
• {cooling in the fridge also works well}

I did not use Honey.  I used Light Corn Syrup and a bit of maple syrup.  I also used the peanut butter, and use mini-chocolate chips.

When I added the peanut butter, I actually microwaved it until it was soft and was able to pour it over the dry ingredients- this may have increased my time before cutting, but I wanted to make sure the peanut butter was incorporated.  I also added a little extra vanilla, because I like the flavor.

When I put my mixture on the greased baking pan, I actually sprayed my hands with cooking spray so I could press the mixture down in the pan and have it not stick to my hands.

I do have to say, I eat a lot of granola bars and I won't be buying another box anytime soon.  I am going to guess I got approximately 15-18 bars out of one mix, which is MUCH cheaper than buying a box of bars at the store.

Next time, I am going to grab some white chocolate chips and dried cranberries and put them in without the peanut butter.  I will increase the amount of sticky (syrup) I put in to compensate for the lack of peanut butter. 

I would say the possibilities of what you could combine in with the basic ingredients are endless- crush up some oreos, put in m&m's, throw in some pecans, or really any kind of nut or dried fruit.  I can't wait to try more combinations!