EZPZ Homemade Granola Bars!

So I know that the definition of EZPZ granola bars probably doesn’t normally include mixing ingredients and turning on the oven. But these are the easiest homemade granola bars and as a bonus they’re kid friendly, personalizeable (what? it’s a word) and delicious. They were given to me by a family member before I moved away from home and honestly, I’m not sure I’ve bought the boxed ones since.

Try these just once, for me, and trust me you’ll never want to go buy them again. Even better, all the other moms will think that you’re amazing because dude, you can make your kids granola bars from scratch. You’re practically Martha Stewart. Only you spend less time in prison. Probably.

Ingredients:
4.5 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup butter, softened in the microwave
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
All the other goodies you want to add in!

Directions:
Preheat your oven to 325 and spray a 9×13 inch pan with non-stick coating.

Dump all the ingredients except your add ins into a bowl.

Mix. It’s a crumbly dough, don’t worry if it seems dry, just make sure it’s mixed well.

Here’s where the fun starts, you can add pretty much anything you want to these. This time I added about a tsp of cinnamon, 1.5 cups of mini chocolate chips and 1 cup of coconut. But in the past I’ve tossed in peanut butter chips, walnuts, raisins, dried cranberries and dried apricots. My rule of thumb is to not add more than about 3 cups of extra stuff. Otherwise, get creative!

Stir in your add ins and dump the dough into the pan.

Use your hands to spread it out evenly and press down pretty firmly.

Toss it in the oven and bake for between 20 and 25 minutes. If you want them a little cake-ier, cook them 20, if you want them crispier, cook them 25 minutes or more. They’ll get a little brown around the edges, but these are egg free, so underbaking them isn’t a problem.

Here’s the only tough part- let them cool completely. Unless you don’t mind them crumbling apart a lot. They firm up a little after they cool so they make less of a mess when you cut them.

Store them in something airtight and while you enjoy this batch, start coming up with your next flavor combination!

Once again, we thank our EZPZ Recipe contributor, Katie, from Overflowing Brain, for this COME ON PLEASE JUST COME OVER NOW AND MAKE IT FOR ME recipe.