Home Made Granola Bars (how to with pics)

My mother in law was telling me about this blog she stumbled upon called Pennies and Pancakes. She has a few different neat blogs. One being on how she feeds her family of 5 on $300 a month and also a few recipes for home made granola bars, bread, and pizza sauce. After seeing the granola bars I knew I had to at least give it a shot. This recipe actually came from Rachael Ray. Granola bars are one of the items I buy weekly. They are great for Drew to take to work and snack on when he can't get a chance to sit and eat lunch. They are also good snacks for Munchkin. Lord knows that little girl eats hourly. You'd think she never gets fed, but she just loves to eat. 

I put together a few pictures and a tutorial of how I did them. I'm pretty sure I used the wrong oatmeal, but it was all that I had in the house. I also didn't have unsalted butter. Mine crumble some, so I think next time I do it I will either add more peanut butter, more honey, or either a little Kayro Syrup. She suggests that you pack them in as much as you can so they don't crumble. I'm going to also add some dried strawberries to some and chocolate chips to some next time I make it. 

Here are my ingredients

Where I lined my tray with wax paper so they wouldn't stick

My cereal and quick oats mixture

In a medium saucepan, combine honey, butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then bring the temperature down to low, and simmer till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Pour in vanilla and stir.

My mixture after it had dissolved

I forgot to take a photo of me pouring this mixture onto the the cereal and oats mixture. I had to do it kind of fast before it cooled too much. 

This is what it looked like once I firmly pressed it into the dish. I then stored it in the fridge so it could harden faster. I also used a spatula and cut a line horizontally through the middle then 10 more lines vertically.

What the Munchkin decided to do while I was making these. 

My bars after I tried to cut them up.

I decided to store them in a tupperware container in my fridge. It took two containers.

Munchkin giving them a try. 

She liked them! 

INGREDIENTS
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar  
1/4 cup peanut butter (crunchy)
1/4 cup unsalted butter
4 cups Quick Oats (not rolled oats)
2 cups crispy rice cereal
3 teaspoons vanilla

DIRECTIONS
In a large bowl, stir crispy rice cereal, quick oats together.

In a medium saucepan, combine honey, butter, peanut butter, and brown sugar. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat then bring the temperature down to low, and simmer till sugar dissolves. Remove from heat. Pour in vanilla and stir.

Pour the hot mixture over dry ingredients. Stir until all ingredients are moistened. Press into a parchment-lined jelly roll pan.

Pack the granola bar mixture as closely and as tightly together as you possibly can into one end of the pan at about 1/2-3/4 inch thickness.Any thinner, and the bars will not hold together. Let cool on the counter till they reach room temperature.

*You may add chocolate chips, dried fruit, nuts, coconut, etc. if desired. If adding chocolate chip, press them into the top of the bars after you've packed the very warm granola mixture into the pan. Otherwise, you'll end up with a melted chocolate-swirled mess.

 Savings ~

*Updated on 1/8/13 from $0.08 ea. to $0.11 ea.

Cost Breakdown:
16 oz. clover honey - $3.78 = 22 T = $0.172/T = $1.376
7 lb brown sugar - $5.05 = 264 T = $0.019/T = $0.114
40 oz. crunchy peanut butter - $5.24 = 70 T = $0.075/T = $0.299
4 lb unsalted butter - $7.99 = 128 T = $0.0625/T = $0.250
42 oz. quick oats - $3.18 = 15 C = $0.212/C = $0.848
36 oz. crispy rice cereal - $4.88 = 37.5 C = $0.130/C = $0.260
8 fl. oz. imitation vanilla - $0.98 = 48 tsp = $0.0204/tsp = $0.061
Total Recipe Cost: $3.21
Per Granola bar: $0.11
The Contender:
Nature Valley Oats and Honey Granola Bars (12 pk.) = $2.68
Per Granola Bar: $0.22
Savings: 50%

"Over a year" scenario:
Make "Food Storage" Granola Bars recipe 15 times = $47.55
Buy equivalent Nature Valley Oats and Honey Granola Bars = $93.80

*Money Saved: $46.25

**** THIS RECIPE AND COST BREAKDOWN CAME FROM Pennies and Pancakes AND YOU CAN FIND THE POST HERE.****