Hey there, long time no see! We’re actually pretty adjusted to having the new baby around, and have been for a while, it’s just getting into the kitchen to invent new things that I don’t seem to be getting around to. Sorry! We’re cooking a lot, but mostly tried-and-true stuff. That said, here’s my latest adaptation of our granola bar recipe. This one turned out pretty well, so I thought you might enjoy it too.

Of course, you can substitute other seeds, nuts, and dried fruits quite easily, if these aren’t ones you like. I do, if I don’t happen to have all of these on-hand. But this combination pleased pretty much everyone at my house, which is why this is what I’m giving you as the “base” recipe. The cereal flakes I use here work best because they’re really sturdy, but you could sub in other flake-style cereals. I don’t recommend cornflakes, both because they’ll soften up too much and the flavor is weird, but bran flakes would work, or another of the Nature’s Path flake cereals.

Sticky Granola Bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup Nature’s Path Ancient Grain Flakes Cereal
• 1 cup oats (I use quick, but old fashioned will work too)
• 3/4 cup chopped dried apricots (size by your preference, I usually quarter mine)
• 1/4 cup dried unsweetened coconut
• 1/4 cup shelled sunflower seeds
• 1/4 cup chopped almonds
• 1/2 cup brown rice syrup
• 2 TBS coconut oil
• 1/4 cup almond butter

Directions:

1. Melt the coconut oil in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Add the brown rice syrup and almond butter. Heat and stir until warm and well combined. Turn off heat and let sit while you do the rest of the prep.

2. Combine the flakes, oats, apricots, sunflower seeds, coconut and chopped almonds in a large mixing bowl. Mix a couple of times to combine.

3. Dump the syrup mixture over the dry ingredients and mix until everything is thoroughly coated.

4. Press the mixture into a small bar pan (mine is about 9×11) or an 8×8 dish until it’s an even layer. The pan does not have to be greased. Place in the fridge for at least an hour. After that time you can cut and eat them any time. They can be stored in the fridge or at room temp after the initial chilling. The fridge will make them harder, but they’ll still be easily edible (just harder to get out of the pan). They’ll be more like a chewy bar at room temp. Eat within a couple of days, especially if you’re keeping them on the counter, as after much longer they’ll get that slightly off taste from oils that are starting to go bad. They won’t hurt you, but it won’t taste great. They’ll last a little longer in the fridge, but I don’t know how long, because we always finish them in a couple of days :D.