Granola Bars

Who doesn't love granola bars?! I'm pretty sure everyone from 1 to 100 years old loves them.

I'm going to the zoo tomorrow with Heidi in Kansas City, and I thought it would be nice to have something like this to take with us so we didn't have to worry about getting hungry on our "3 hour tour"! Getting hungry = end of the world...maybe not, but it sometimes feels that way. Anyway, I didn't want to go to the store to buy stuff so I decided to do these. I took a lot of pictures along the way. I am putting them at the bottom of the recipe though so maybe it'll be easier to read..?! I don't know, but I hope they help!

-3 T. butter
-1/3 c. brown sugar
-1/3 c. honey
-1 t. vanilla extract
-2 c. instant oats
-1 c. crispy rice cereal
-1/4 c. almonds
-1/4 c. mini chocolate chips, divided
Combine butter, brown sugar, and honey in a small saucepan. Heat over medium-low(2 or 3 on your stove dial) heat until butter is melted. Turn up to medium-high(8 or 9) heat. Meanwhile, put almonds in a bag and crush into small pieces. Mix oats, cereal, crushed almonds, and half (2 T.) of chocolate chips in a large bowl. Stir butter/sugar mixture, scraping bottom and sides well. Allow to come to a boil. Turn heat down to medium(4 or 5) and simmer for two minutes. Remove from heat and stir in vanilla. Pour over dry mixture. Mix well until all dry mixture is coated with liquid. Pour into a greased 9X13 pan. Press firmly into pan. Sprinkle with remaining chocolate chips. Let sit for at least 2 hours before cutting. I stored mine in snack size ziploc bags individually so they would be easy to grab on the run. Makes 12 bars.

That is some packed brown sugar, friends. Before you melt!

This is what it looks like as the butter melts. Be sure to stir quite a bit.

Mix your dry ingredients while you're waiting for butter mixture to boil.

When you start to see those little bubbles on the sides, it will boil shortly thereafter.  Don't forget to add vanilla after boiling for 2 minutes!

Make sure all dry ingredients get coated.

Press into pan

Sprinkle with chocolate chips

ooooo yummy!