Homemade No-Bake Chewy Granola Bars

Granola bars are a staple. Let's face it. Who doesn't like to wing a few of these bad boys to the back seat of the mini-van as it whizzes down the street trailing clouds of pixie dust behind it. We certainly have had our share of those mornings. Not for lack of planning, but complete lack of participation on the part of my children when it comes to getting out of bed. I should plan for those 2 hour mornings right? Geesh. If however I am good enough to share my chewy granola bar tutorial with you, does that help? I know we sure love them around here. These are loaded with flax seed and homemade organic goodness so I don't even feel guilty passing them to the back seat. Mind you, they do have some sugar, but...don't get me started on the store bought bars. Most of them are way loaded.
Kicker price too. I spent 4$ on the ingredients (some of which I had on hand) and I was still able to get almost 45 granola bars out of this recipe. Yes. You read it right. 45.

You will need:

4 cups granola, preferably in smaller pieces or my granola: Home-Spun Breakfast Cereal
4 cups rolled oats

4 cups crispy rice cereal

1 cup flax seed (optional)

1T cinnamon

2 cups brown sugar

2/3 cup water

1/2 cup butter

2 tsp double strength vanilla

2/3 cup honey or molasses

Combine the dry ingredients in a large 2 gallon bowl. Lightly oil 2 9 by 13 inch casserole pans and set them aside. In a 2 quart heavy pot, combine the sugar, butter, water, vanilla and honey or molasses.

It will be a nice rolling boil the full 5 minutes starting the timer when it comes to a boil. I have found if I just use honey and no sugar, it does help the bars to hold together if I add one cup of soy or whey protein powder to the dry ingredients. This also works using one cup of dry milk powder. Boil the syrup over medium heat stirring well, until a drop placed in cold water holds it's shape, about 5 minutes (soft ball stage). It helps to have one piece of ice in the water so it is a true test of when it is ready.

Not ready yet...

Getting closer...

Ready! Pour immediately over the dry ingredients and combine well.

It will not be too gooey. Just right.

Scrape all the way to the bottom of the bowl.

Divide the mixture between the two pans. Lightly spray the top of the bars with non-stick spray or oil. Press down firmly, being careful not to burn your hands. Transfer pans to the fridge and chill 10-15 minutes. Cut with a sharp knife into bars of desired size. Standard granola bar size yielded about 45 bars.

Place in snack size bags or keep in an airtight container. Ours rarely last more than a few days, so I can't really say how long they will keep fresh.

There you go. Granola bars. You can do it!