Granola bar cars!

My little guy turns 4 this week. 4!!! where did that time go. I feel sick when I think about it. SICK!

 

He is really into race cars and Disney’s CARS. Tomorrow he celebrates his birthday at school and his teacher asked that no cupcakes be brought in since they are messy. Fine with me!  I was trying to think of something healthy to bring, and Nick agreed on spinach muffins but for the sake of his reputation, I wanted to do something more fun. I started out with graham crackers and was thinking of making a car out of them, but then moved on to granola bars. I needed to find a recipe that actually stuck together. Bring in Lauren’s recipe - the key is the fast cooking oats (Not rolled oats!) and some m & m’s and we’ve got a treat healthier than cupcakes or cookies to bring to school.   They are pretty sweet. If I had time, I would have worked with the recipe to cut out some of the sugar, but I did not!

Granola Bars that STICK! makes 20 thick bars
adapted from Lauren at Lauren’s Latest

Ingredients:
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup honey
2/3 c brown sugar
4 cups quick cooking oats  (KEY!)
1 teaspoon vanilla

In a medium pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it bubbles. Reduce the heat and cook 2 minutes. Pour in vanilla and stir. Add in oats (I did this directly into the pot). Mix well so oatmeal is all well coated. Press into the smallest pan that you have. I used a pan that was about 8 x 4 x 2. Really press these down and close together.  Let them chill for at least 2 hours before cutting them!

**For the cars, I split the thick bar in half lengthwise, and at first I used honey to attach the m & m’s, but it wasn’t working. I couldn’t send peanut butter (which would have been my first choice) so I melted chocolate chips to attach the wheels.   These are so tasty! Great lunch box snack.

I think next time I would try peanut butter for half of the butter and cutting out half of the brown sugar.

What is your favorite granola bar recipe?  

This was my most successful granola bar recipe without using brown rice syrup (which sticks so well and works every time but is expensive!)

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