Yummy, chewy granola bars with nuts and oats for complete protein.
- 3/4 cup butter
- raisins
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- almonds
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2 tablespoon butter
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 3 cups rice crispies or corn flakes cereal
- 4 cups total of:
- coconut
- sunflower seeds
- one cup of:
- chocolate chips
- m & ms
- peanuts
- ----------------
- 1 16-oz package marshmellows mini
- Carbohydrate 42.52536609375 g
- Cholesterol 19.3403776041667 mg
- Fat 14.4151487760417 g
- Fiber 3.22284173510472 g
- Protein 5.04136778645834 g
- Saturated Fat 8.06447135416667 g
- Serving Size 1 1 serving (67g)
- Sodium 124.496979166667 mg
- Sugar 39.3025243586453 g
- Trans Fat 1.12343781770833 g
- Calories 312 calories
Step-by-step
- This is a no-bake recipe. Combine in large bowl the oats, Rice Crispies or Corn Flakes, the 4 cups of items listed, the one cup of items listed, and the cinnamon and mix them all together. Melt 3/4 C butter, 1 16oz. pkg of marshmellow, and the 1/2 C peanut butter in a large saucepan. When melted, pour the wet ingredients over the dry ingredients and combine.
- Press into a jelly roll pan or a large cookie sheet with shallow sides.
- A 17" x 11" pan is about right. You may want to butter your hand or use buttered wax paper to press this into the pan as it will be sticky. Now, in a different saucepan, melt the last 3 ingredients...1/2 T. butter, 1 C. chocolate chips, and the Cup of butterscotch chips. When melted, pour over the bars. Cool completely and cut into bars. Yum. Yum. Yum.
Traditional baked granola bars rely on dry oven heat and a bound sugar syrup to achieve rigidity, whereas this no-bake method depends entirely on a melted marshmallow matrix to hold heavy oats, crisp cereal, and mix-ins together. Managing dense, sticky confections in a modest cooking space requires careful planning regarding your physical tools before any ingredients leave their packages. Selecting the proper hardware prevents structural failure and keeps clean-up manageable when working on limited counter space.
Pan Selection and Surface Area Control
Achieving uniform thickness requires a large shallow receptacle like a 17-inch by 11-inch jelly roll pan, because using a standard 9-inch by 13-inch baking dish creates bars that are far too thick to cut cleanly through the dense seed and marshmallow layers. Pressing the sticky mixture evenly into the corners of a wide sheet pan demands either greased hands or a sheet of buttered wax paper placed directly on top of the mass, allowing you to compress the oats firmly without losing half the product to your fingers. If your kitchen lacks a jelly roll pan, two smaller quarter-sheet pans will accommodate the volume adequately provided you divide the dry base and melted binders evenly between them.
Melting Mechanics and Thermal Control
Direct heat applied to dairy fats and sugars can scorch rapidly, meaning butter, peanut butter, and marshmallows must be melted over low heat in a heavy-bottomed saucepan while stirring constantly with a silicone spatula. Overheating this binder causes the sugars to crystallize rather than liquefy, resulting in hard, brittle bars that crumble upon the first knife stroke instead of yielding a chewy bite. Cool the assembled sheet completely at room temperature or chill it in the refrigerator for precisely 30 minutes to solidify the fats before dividing the slab into twenty-four uniform pieces with a sharp chef knife.
