Cliff Bars

Homemade Cliff Bars {No Bake!}

First off, I have to tell you all that my family has an addiction. We're hooked on granola bars. Seriously, we have them all the time. This is an expensive habit so I've found and created lots of homemade recipes to use since that makes it healthier and cheaper. And,I have to let you in on another little secret. I really haven't had the store-bought Cliff Bars, so I don't know how these stack up. But, what I do know is that these bars taste fantastic, and they have lots of protein- 10 grams per serving! My whole family loves them and they are really simple and quick to make. You can make then in a pan and then cut them into bars or press them into a mini muffin tin. I also love that the recipe is really flexible to use what you've got on hand. They may look innocent, but these little things are addictive!

Homemade Cliff Bars Recipe

1 1/4 cups Rice Krispies
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons ground flax seed (or you can just substitute oats if you're out of flax seed)
1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (raisins, apricots, cherries, cranberries...)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (almonds, walnuts, pecans cashews, peanuts)
1/4 cup honey, maple syrup or light molasses
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1/3 cup nut butter (I always use peanut butter)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
optional: 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Combine Krispies, oats, flax seed fruit and nuts in a large bowl. In a small saucepan bring the honey and brown sugar. Remove from heat and stir in the nut butter and vanilla.
Pour the nut mixture over the cereal mixture and stir until it is well mixed. Press into a greased 8" pan or greased mini muffin tins. (Cut into 12 bars if you used a pan)
Store them in the refrigerator.

If you want to have the chocolate drizzle on top, melt chocolate chips in the microwave in 15 second intervals, stirring after each microwaving. Add just enough canola oil to make the chips smooth and then drizzle on using a baggie with a small hole snipped in it.

PS- you can easily double this recipe and press the bars into a 13x9 inch pan. The bars stay good in the fridge for at least a week. Beyond that I'm not sure because they are always gone before that.