Peanut Granola Bars

 Everyone has a favorite granola bar. Chewy,crunchy, fruit filled or dried fruit with the oats; the combinations are endless. My mom's favorite are super crunchy with oats and nuts. I enjoy them but they are a bit too crunchy and a bit too sweet. I feel granola bars should stop trying to be candy bars. When you want a nice snack to keep you going during the day they shouldn't be weet enough to be confused with dessert.

This is a great recipe for granola bars that combines all the delicious things you want. If you want to make these nut free, you can just double the amount of butter instead of using peanut butter and leave out the peanuts.

 Go ahead and gather up:
2 1/4 cups of rolled oats
3/4 cup whole wheat flour
1 tsp baking soda
1/2 teaspoon of salt
1/4 cup of softened butter
1/4 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup honey or maple syrup
1/2 cup chopped peanuts



Combine the peanut butter and butter until they are well blended. Add in the vanilla and honey as well.Make sure everything is at room temperature so it will blend easily.

Add in the flour, salt and baking soda until well blended.













Add the rolled oats, peanuts or other mix ins you would like. Dried fruit or other nuts would be delicious or even chocolate chips.

 Spray an 8 x 8 pan with cooking spray.

 Squish the mixture into the pan. Really jam it into the pan so the bars will not fall apart.  I used a spatula and my hands with this one.

Bake them at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes. You want them to be done, but not too brown on the edges. Otherwise the outside parts will be too crumbly.

Wait at least 10 or 15 minutes to cut them into bars, and wait until they are completely cool to take them out of the pan. Enjoy these with a tall glass of milk or coffee.