Measure out all of your ingredients beforehand. To make cleanup faster, go ahead and put all of your containers of things away after measuring - before beginning the actual "cooking" process.
Add all of your "candy boil" ingredients (sucanant/sugar, honey, coconut oil, ghee) in a saucepan and bring to a boil with medium to medium-high heat. TIP: YOU MUST STIR THIS CONTINUOUSLY.
Add your dry mix ingredients (rice cereal, oats, flax seed, chia seeds) in a large mixing bowl.
Bring your "candy boil" to a rolling boil (Keep stirring, as you don't want this boiling over or burning as the sugars all dissolve/combine). Set a timer to 1 minute 20 seconds, and lower heat to medium if the boil comes close to the top of your saucepan.
When your timer is done, remove your pan from the heat and stir in your peanut butter, salt, and vanilla. Stir until the mixture reaches a smooth consistency.
Now, mix up your dry ingredients until well combined. Then pour your "candy boil" into the dry ingredients mixing bowl.
Using a strong spoon, stir everything slowly and carefully (this can get messy if you're not careful) until well combined. You will notice it get harder to stir as the "candy boil" cools.
Once everything is combined, line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.
After the mixture has cooled for about 5 minutes or so, go ahead and stir in any add-ins you would like - M&M's, Reese's, etc.
**Hint: If you are using chocolate chips, I would suggest NOT stirring those in (they will totally melt...). Instead, I'd suggest waiting, and using them more as a topping than a mix-in (I like to melt mine and spread on top like icing)!**
Dump your mixture onto your lined cookie sheet, then (i use my hands - it's easier) spread into desired thickness and try to flatten as smoothly as possible.
**Hint: if you are struggling to spread it smoothly, you CAN place another sheet of parchment paper on top, then use another cookie sheet to press down on top of it to smooth it out.**
**Hint: I like to make my bars at least a half inch thick so that they don't get "floppy" and fall apart as easily**
Before spreading your chocolate on top, stick your granola bar ban in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes or the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to cool them down almost completely.
Measure out about 1/2-2/3 cups dark chocolate chunks/chips into a small glass bowl, and microwave in 30 second increments (stirring in between each heating session) until creamy and smooth.
Next, pour your melted chocolate all over the top of your granola bars. Quickly using the back of a spoon or an icing spreader, smooth out the chocolate to cover the bars.
*Alternative: you can drizzle the chocolate on top of the bars in any design you like (this may not hold up after cutting in to bars as well as just spreading evenly, depending on your drizzle, but feel free to experiment and make it fun!).
After spreading the chocolate on top, put your pan back in the fridge or freezer until the chocolate is completely cooled/hardened.
When chocolate is completely hardened, slice into bars (you can use a knife or I like to use this slicer/chopper from Amazon):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07255T6SW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I usually get about 30 bars each time I make the recipe (obviously, that will depend on how thick you make them and how large you cut the bars).
After cutting into desired-sized bars, I like to go ahead and package our bars into snack sized ziplocks for the kids to grab-and-go for school or afternoon snacks.
We have discovered that we prefer to keep them in the fridge so that they are more firm/less "floppy", however they are perfectly great to store in the pantry as well.
Ingredients
Directions
Measure out all of your ingredients beforehand. To make cleanup faster, go ahead and put all of your containers of things away after measuring - before beginning the actual "cooking" process.
Add all of your "candy boil" ingredients (sucanant/sugar, honey, coconut oil, ghee) in a saucepan and bring to a boil with medium to medium-high heat. TIP: YOU MUST STIR THIS CONTINUOUSLY.
Add your dry mix ingredients (rice cereal, oats, flax seed, chia seeds) in a large mixing bowl.
Bring your "candy boil" to a rolling boil (Keep stirring, as you don't want this boiling over or burning as the sugars all dissolve/combine). Set a timer to 1 minute 20 seconds, and lower heat to medium if the boil comes close to the top of your saucepan.
When your timer is done, remove your pan from the heat and stir in your peanut butter, salt, and vanilla. Stir until the mixture reaches a smooth consistency.
Now, mix up your dry ingredients until well combined. Then pour your "candy boil" into the dry ingredients mixing bowl.
Using a strong spoon, stir everything slowly and carefully (this can get messy if you're not careful) until well combined. You will notice it get harder to stir as the "candy boil" cools.
Once everything is combined, line a cookie sheet with parchment or wax paper.
After the mixture has cooled for about 5 minutes or so, go ahead and stir in any add-ins you would like - M&M's, Reese's, etc.
**Hint: If you are using chocolate chips, I would suggest NOT stirring those in (they will totally melt...). Instead, I'd suggest waiting, and using them more as a topping than a mix-in (I like to melt mine and spread on top like icing)!**
Dump your mixture onto your lined cookie sheet, then (i use my hands - it's easier) spread into desired thickness and try to flatten as smoothly as possible.
**Hint: if you are struggling to spread it smoothly, you CAN place another sheet of parchment paper on top, then use another cookie sheet to press down on top of it to smooth it out.**
**Hint: I like to make my bars at least a half inch thick so that they don't get "floppy" and fall apart as easily**
Before spreading your chocolate on top, stick your granola bar ban in the fridge for about 20-30 minutes or the freezer for about 15-20 minutes to cool them down almost completely.
Measure out about 1/2-2/3 cups dark chocolate chunks/chips into a small glass bowl, and microwave in 30 second increments (stirring in between each heating session) until creamy and smooth.
Next, pour your melted chocolate all over the top of your granola bars. Quickly using the back of a spoon or an icing spreader, smooth out the chocolate to cover the bars.
*Alternative: you can drizzle the chocolate on top of the bars in any design you like (this may not hold up after cutting in to bars as well as just spreading evenly, depending on your drizzle, but feel free to experiment and make it fun!).
After spreading the chocolate on top, put your pan back in the fridge or freezer until the chocolate is completely cooled/hardened.
When chocolate is completely hardened, slice into bars (you can use a knife or I like to use this slicer/chopper from Amazon):
https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07255T6SW/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o06_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
I usually get about 30 bars each time I make the recipe (obviously, that will depend on how thick you make them and how large you cut the bars).
After cutting into desired-sized bars, I like to go ahead and package our bars into snack sized ziplocks for the kids to grab-and-go for school or afternoon snacks.
We have discovered that we prefer to keep them in the fridge so that they are more firm/less "floppy", however they are perfectly great to store in the pantry as well.
