No Bake Double Chocolate Granola Bars

I love my oats and one of the best way I like to eat them is as a granola bar. As I share more and more recipes that I stumble upon, you will notice a trait in all of them : must be very easy, fuss free and flexible.

I love Gemma Stafford and I actually subscribe to her channel on YouTube. She recently posted the video below on her channel. She had me at granola and no-bake. I just had to try it out and these are the perfect size snacks to pack into your kid's snack boxes.

I am only going to do a variation of her recipe so I won't be listing the full ingredients. You can see the full recipe, instructions, and various ways to jazz up the granola bars on her page at Bigger Bolder Baking.

1 ½ cups rolled oats

1 cup Keloggs Rice Crispies cereal

¼ cup butter

¼ cup honey (agave, rice or maple syrup)

½ cup brown sugar

½ teaspoon salt

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

¼ cup (1 oz / 30g) unsweetened natural cocoa powder

¼ chopped toasted almonds

¼ cup dried cranberries

¼ cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

In a large bowl, mix together the oats and cereal.

In a microwavable bowl add in butter, honey and brown sugar.

Microwave this mixture for 2 minutes. It will bubble up so make sure your bowl is big enough so it doesn’t overflow. You can also do this step in a saucepan if you don’t have a microwave.

Into the caramel, whisk in the vanilla

Pour the mixture over the oats and thoroughly stir using a rubber spatula. Mix the ingredients together until the oats are completely coated. Add in cocoa powder.

Add in chopped toasted almonds, dried cranberries and the chocolate chips. Mix well.

Then press very firmly into a small 9 x 6 tray(what I had) lined with parchment. If you like your bars thinner, you can use a bigger pan, but no bigger than 9 x 13.

Make sure to press firmly enough, otherwise the bars will fall apart when you eat them. Place them in the fridge for 2-3 hours to set.

Cut to preferred size.

Store in an airtight container in the fridge. And in true auntie spirit, I stored mine in a Tupperware ;)

I might reduce the amount of brown sugar the next time I make this, because I did think it was a little too sweet for my tastes. I don't think it would affect the recipe too much if the sugar was reduced by a bit. If the mixture ends up too dry despite the constant mixing, try adding a little more honey.

Happy trying!