Not store bought granola bars too?? The Sugary truth

 It's sooo easy and convenient to buy granola bars from the store and toss them at starving children or throw them in a lunch box! Or how about breakfast on the go!?! Oh wait, what's that? Oh crap, those healthy, oat-y looking things aren't as healthy as they say?  Nooooooooo! But I love them! At first I tried to live in denial, but the guilt! I stopped buying them and endured a million "can I have a granola bar?" (I'm pretty sure the kids think we have a magical pantry because they are always asking for things that aren't there!) Ugh! I really needed some granola bars to throw at them! I started googling and searching for recipes that did not have brown sugar or granulated sugar. I got scared by some of the ingredients. My kids were gonna totally throw them right back at me claiming that I was feeding them that stuff in the bird feeders. I have no idea where their dramatic tendencies come from??? Anyhoo, I studied several recipes and kind of merged  a couple for a hybrid, perfect for kids who are eating healthier but weren't exactly on board with plan yet. One day, they'll be eating super packed granola with all sorts of funny named goodness, but I gotta keep this journey gentle and torture free to succeed.


Chocolate Chip Peanut butter Granola Bars 
1 c peanut butter
1/4c-1/2c honey (I like less)
1/2c coconut oil
2 3/4c oats
3/4c flax seed ( or whatever bird feeder like food your kids won't notice)
1/2c mini chocolate chips

Line a baking dish with parchment (bottom and up over the sides.)
Combine oats and flax seed in a bowl and set aside.
Heat and melt peanut butter, honey, and oil
Pour over oat mix and stir.
Quickly fold in 1/4c of chips and them press mix into the pan.
Sprinkle the rest of the chips on the top.
Make sure everything is firmly pressed together and refrigerate.
Cut into bars and squares and store in a container in the fridge

First attempt and you would have thought it was my first time with chocolate! I put the chips with the oats and poured the warm peanut butter mix directly on the chips! Hid the flax seed real well though!!!

As usual, each kid likes something a little different so I went on a search for something else and stumbled upon The Minimalist Baker Blog. I got very excited about this recipe! DATES!! I love them! They make me think of my Oma's frosted date ball cookies and Christmas! I had to try this recipe! I feel like it required a little more muscle to mix but both kids and my inner kid gave them rave reviews!!!! I think that these are my absolute favorite. They held together well and weren't too sticky:)

healthy 5 ingredient granola bars recipe

My poor nephew has peanut and tree nut allergies. It seemed like almost all the recipes I found contained nut butters and nuts.  Most suggested swapping out the nut butters with sunflower seed butter, but my cheap self wanted to see if I could find a recipe without either before buying a jar for occasional visits. It took a couple tries. One recipe fell apart and became granola bits for yogurt. I found another one but it had frozen raspberries and they were too tart for the kids. I found this one from the blog Chocolate Covered Kate and it seemed to work the best. I baked them because to be extra cautious. I also added golden raisins and cinnamon to try and recreate something similar to the store bought ones Nathan adores.

Healthy granola bars recipes

I thought that making granola bars was going to be a giant pain in the butt. I was surprised to find so many recipes with so many options! I love how you can play around and create your own mix in combos (heaven forbid we like the same thing around here!!) It's also great for baking with kids! A lot of dumping stuff into one bowl.