homemade granola bars

this weekend, denton and i were watching the food network. a show that i hadn't seen before came on and they were talking all about camping food. so we were game. it was "home for dinner" with jamie deen. he was making homemade granola bar. since i have been paying much more attention to watch is going in my mouth and the boys' i decided to give it a shot today. the outcome was great!  the only thing i changed was the addition of chocolate chips, all granola needs chocolate in my opinion!

there is the recipe that i got from the food network website.

Ingredients

Nonstick cooking spray

1/2 cup honey

1/2 cup creamy peanut butter

2 tablespoons light brown sugar

1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract

2 cups puffed wheat cereal

1/2 cup dried cranberries

1/2 cup chopped pistachios, rough chopped

1/2 cup nonfat dry milk powder

Directions

Preheat the oven to 300 degrees F and adjust racks to the center of the oven. Line an 8- by 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper, leaving a 3-inch overhang over the sides to use as handles later. Spray the parchment with nonstick cooking spray.

Add the honey, peanut butter, brown sugar and vanilla to a small saucepan and bring to a light simmer, stirring until the peanut butter is well mixed into the honey.

Combine the cereal, cranberries, pistachios and milk powder in a large bowl and toss all together with your hands.

Pour the syrup over the cereal mixture and stir all together with a rubber spatula, working quickly because it will get pretty sticky. Add the sticky mixture to the prepared baking dish and pat down with the rubber spatula. Place a piece of parchment over the top and press down firmly. This will make slicing easier later on. Remove the parchment from the top after pressing and bake in the middle rack until just lightly golden, about 25 minutes.

Cool the bars completely in the pan, and then slice into 8 bars.

Read more at: http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/jamie-deen/homemade-peanut-butter-snack-bars-recipe/index.html?oc=linkback