Flavors by Four: No Bake Granola Bars

It is time for another round of Secret Recipe Club. This month we were assigned Shelley from C Mom Cook. She is very adventurous in the kitchen and takes part of two other monthly cooking challenges. She participates in Daring Cooks which chooses recipes from different countries such Bibimbap from Korea. She also has a sourdough starter that she has been baking with for over a year and uses it once a month for different baked goods such as croissants or pop-overs. A lot of her recipes use a Sourdough starter but since I don't have one to work with I chose these No Bake Granola Bars. Unfortunately, the bars didn't stay together as much as I was expecting. Instead most of it crumbled into granola, buts it tastes delicious so I have been putting it on top of yogurt for breakfast and ice cream for dessert.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 Cups Granola

1/2 Cup Craisins

1/4 Cup Chocolate Chips

1/4 Cup Butter

1/4 Cup Honey

1/3 Cup Brown Sugar

1/2 Tsp Vanilla

Pam Spray

Combine the granola in a large bowl with the craisins and chocolate chips. You can definitely interchange the mixins other options could be raisins, nuts etc... I increased the amount of granola and mixins in my granola bars because Shelley commented that the bars were too sticky and that is what she would've done had she made them again. I think maybe part of my problem was I added too much but didn't increase the amount of liquids. So I have fixed the amount of ingredients in hopes that your bars will form better than mine did.

In a small pot melt the butter with the brown sugar, and honey until it is bubbling. Allow it to cook for a few minutes until it has thicken a bit, stirring occasionally. Take it off the heat and add the vanilla. Mix together the granola with your choice of mixins and pour the warm syrup over top mixing so that it coats everything. Don't be alarmed if some of the chocolate melts cause it will harden as it sits.

Spray a jelly pan with Pam and pour the granola onto the pan. If you are using a large one it will only fill up about 2/3 of the pan. Be sure to push it down and together tightly as you can with a spatula which will give you the best chance for it to stick well enough to form bars. Allow it to stick room temperature for at least 3 hours, then carefully cut it into bars. If you struggle like I did you can try drizzling some more honey over the top and putting the pan in the freezer for 30 minutes or so which is how I got a few bars to stay together long enough to take a picture.