Peanut Butter Granola Bars

I was looking for a healthy snack just to have around the house or maybe to take to work. I came across some of those snack type bars in the grocery store and they were on sale so I indulged. Wrong move....

Don't get me wrong, they tasted okay, but they were tiny and not very satisfying and when I figured the price per bar it was outrageous. Then I looked at the ingredient panel. Of course, I should have done this before purchasing but I expect to see something that looked nutritious. Here is the actual ingredient panel. The ingredient that gave me a chuckle was "strawberry flavored fruit pieces". Huh?

So I decided I would just make my own. I did some searching and found a recipe that I liked from MyWholeFoodLife. It looked versatile and I had all the ingredients so I made a batch. I did substitute raisins for the chocolate chips but everything else was the same. 

This is not a sugary sweet bar.  I found it very satisfying and like the natural taste of banana and peanut butter.

Ingredients:

2 1/2 cups rolled oats

1 banana mashed

1/3 cup peanut butter

1/4 tsp baking powder

1/3 cup raw honey or maple syrup

2 T milk (I used almond milk)

1/2 tsp salt

2 T chocolate chips (I used raisins instead)

Instructions:

• Preheat oven to 350. 
• Mix all dry ingredients in one bowl. 
• In a sauce pan, on medium heat, combine the banana, peanut butter, maple syrup and milk.  Stir until combined.
• Add peanut butter mixture to the dry ingredients and mix well.
• Line a pan with parchment paper. Either an 8X8 or 9X9 would work well. Let the parchment paper hang over the edges so you can use it to lift the bars out of the pan. No pan to wash!
• Spoon the batter into the lined pan and pat it down firmly.
• Bake for about 20-25 minutes.
• Let cool completely and then cut. A pizza cutter works well.
• Store in a plastic container separated by parchment paper for up to two weeks.

I really liked using the raisins and I think coconut or nuts would be nice to add as well.