Reblog: Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

After almost two years, I decided to reinvent one of my old and more popular recipes: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars.

Granola bars are seriously my weakness in life. First as a para-educator, then a full-time teacher by trade, I lived off of easy, ready-to-eat snacks, and packaged granola bars were my favorite. Stuff granola bar in tote, eat half on way to school, eat the rest during math and reading, crave another one. Sadly, this became a daily habit. For years, my health was not high enough on my priority list. Eventually, my body became extremely sensitive to gluten, almost certainly due to my lack of concern on how much of it I consumed!

I have posted before on my struggle with gluten sensitivity, but the gist of it is this: don't be discouraged. There are SO many easy and surprisingly cheap ways to enjoy cooking, baking and eating what your body loves!

This recipe has been on hiatus for far too long, so I am excited to re-introduce my gluten free peanut butter chocolate chip granola bars!

**Please do not equate my posts with medical advice from doctors! This is my humble experience with gluten sensitivity. If you suspect you are allergic to wheat or sensitive or intolerant to gluten or have Celiac's disease, please do not hesitate to talk with a medical professional. They can help you immensely. **

Gluten Free Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

Ingredients:

1/2 stick of butter or margarine (for a healthier alternative, try 1/2 c. of unsweetened applesauce!)
1/4 c. packed light brown sugar
1/4 c. honey
2 c. certified gluten-free quick oats
1 c. certified gluten-free cereal (My favorites are Rice Krispies and Kix!)
1/2 c. creamy peanut butter
1/4 c. chocolate chips

Instructions:

Use your butter wrapper or cooking spray to lightly grease a 9 x 13 in. baking pan.

Heat the honey, brown sugar and butter in a large saucepan on the stovetop's medium setting. Stir until margarine is just melted.

Butter, Margarine and Brown Sugar

Rolling Boil

 Bring the mixture to a boil, then reduce the heat to medium-low. Stir until the sugar is dissolved (about 2 minutes). Remove from heat and slowly fold in the peanut butter. 



When peanut butter is just barely melted into the mixture, add the cereal and oats 1/4 cup at a time, coating oats and cereal at a constant rate until all of it is mixed in and evenly coated. {I folded into some of the chocolate chips immediately, but you could wait until the end to sprinkle them on top.}

Peanut Butter Added

Adding liquid mixture to cereal and oats

Finished mixture! It smells like heaven.

Spoon the entire mixture into the 9 x 13 in. pan. Press mixture firmly into the pan with a spatula. 

These chocolate chips melted FAST! You can always press yours in on top after the mixture has cooled.

For quick cooling, place the pan in the fridge for an hour or so. {I honestly love the granola bars cold!} 

Cut into squares or rectangles. I love to keep my bars in the pan and pop them into Ziplocks as I need them. You could also individually wrap them in tin foil and store in a cool area (like a pantry) for quick retrieval when you need an on-the-go snack.

As aforementioned, please be careful with gluten-free baking.  Make sure all your ingredients (the oats and cereal in this recipe) have a gluten free label. Some regular quick oats are safe for those who are gluten-intolerant or sensitive, but will have been packaged in a factory that also packages other food items with gluten. If you have Celiac's Disease, my advice is to carefully watch your labels and buy items not made with other foods containing gluten. 

With gluten-free life-style or not, enjoy. 

<3