Homemade Clif Bars

These power bars are great and We made seven batches ( I know sounds crazy huh?) this past week so I thought I'd share! I love love love these and they are no bake! If you are going to make them double it and put into a 9x13 pan. We made one batch with chocolate chips and one batch with craisins, raisins and almonds.
Enjoy girls!


Courtesy of Enlightened Cooking:
There is plenty of room for variation.

1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (e.g., Rice Krispies)
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)
1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (e.g., raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (preferably roasted or toasted)
1/4 cup brown rice syrup (or honey, maple syrup, or light molasses)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/3 cup nut butter (e.g., peanut, almond, cashew, soynut)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Combine the rice cereal, oats, flaxseed meal, dried fruit, and nuts in a large bowl.

Bring the syrup and brown sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in nut butter and vanilla until blended.

Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated (mixture will be stiff). Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) using a large square of wax paper. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 12 bars. (Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator).

Variations:
Chocolate Chip Cookie
Replace the dried fruit with an equal amount of semisweet miniature chocolate chips (or carob chips). Combine the cereal mixture with the syrup mixture, then let the combined mixture stand 10 minutes before adding the chips.

Peanut Butter Cookie
Use chopped dates for the dried fruit and dry roasted peanuts for the nuts. Use honey, or half honey-half molasses for the syrup and peanut butter for the nut butter.

Will You Cherry Me?
Use chopped dried tart cherries for the fruit and lightly salted roasted almonds for the nuts. Use any nut butter (almond butter is great, but I know, very expensive, and add 1/4 teaspoon almond extract.

Apple Pie
Use chopped dried apples for the fruit and rice syrup or honey for the syrup. Be sure to add the cinnamon option, and use toasted walnuts or pecans for the nuts.

Watchamacallits

1 c. Karo syrup (found with other syrups)

1 c. sugar

1 c. peanut butter

3 c. Rice Krispies

1/2 pkg. chocolate chips

1/2 pkg. butterscotch chips

Stir together Karo syrup, sugar, and peanut butter in a large pan. Cook on med heat until mixture is creamy. Add 3 cups of Rice Krispies (I use a big enough pan and add it right into the creamy mixture) . Spread into a greased 9" x 13" pan. Combine chocolate chips (on bottom) and butterscotch chips in a bowl and microwave for a minute until smooth. Spread over krispie mixture. Cool in the refrigerator. Remove and cut into 1-inch squares.

Happy 4th of July!

Okay, I'm going to start things off. Hope everyone had a great holiday. I printed this off the Kraft website a few years ago, but I've never done it. My mother-in-law asked me to bring a Jello salad to the BBQ and I thought it was a easy, cute and patriotic way to celebrate the fourth. You can use it on top of anything that has cool whip or frosting I'm sure. I just have Jello under my cool whip, but I have two other versions... one's a cheesecake and one is a pound cake. Great way to spice up the traditional Jello !