Breakfast Bars

[pinkleo]

So I have this dilemma...my son doesn't care for cereal in the morn...what to do?
My solution is to make Breakfast Bars!

~* Breakfast Bars Recipe*~

Ingredients

(These are flexible, and I shall give examples at the end)

• 2-1/2 cups oatmeal (NOT instant!)
  
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 1 cup dried fruit (I'm using 1/2 cup cranberry & 1/2 cup raisins in my pics.)
  
• 1 cup nuts (I'm using peanuts in my pics.)
  
• 1/2 cup seeds (I'm using sunflower in my pics.)
  
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips (You don't have to use chocolate chips, more about that below.)
  
• Spice (This is optional.  Today I used a 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon in my Breakfast Bars.)
  
• 1-14 fl.oz. can of sweetened condensed milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla (optional)
  
• Nonstick cooking spray for pan

.

Instructions
(You can click on small pic to get a bigger view if desired.)
Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.  Spray a 9X13-inch baking pan with nonstick cooking spray.  In a large bowl mix together oatmeal, coconut, dried fruit, nuts, seeds, chocolate chips, and spice.

(I crush my nuts, usually willy-nilly like here when I used a bowl and a ladle to smash them a bit)

Add sweetened condensed milk and vanilla to oatmeal mixture, and mix well.
(if using vanilla or other liquid flavoring, add it with the milk so it incorporates well)

Dump oatmeal mixture into prepared pan, and press down mixture into pan, flattening top as you go.
(really press down to compact)

Bake in 250 degree F oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.  Remove from oven and allow to cool.
(cooling & pic so you can see after baked look)

Cut into 16 bars.  Store at room temperature in air tight container.

Variations:  This is a very adaptable recipe.  You can change it many ways.  Try different dried fruits such as apples, cherries, and blueberries; do chop large dried fruits into smaller pieces.  Try different nuts such as walnuts and pecans.  Try different seeds like pumpkin and sesame.  Spices to can be adapted to taste.  You can leave out the chocolate chips; I have done this and just increased the amount of seeds to 1 cup.  If you don't have seeds, substitute with extra nuts.  It truly is an easy and yummy way to start the day.  ENJOY!

(I had these as a snack. )

Some Breakfast Bar Combos I've Made:
Blueberry Pecan with White Chocolate Chips
Cherry Walnut (with no chocolate but extra cherries, no cinnamon either)
Honey Roasted Peanuts with Raisins and Semisweet Chocolate Chunks
Apple Spiced (with no chocolate but extra seeds, & apple pie spice..I used my own mix but premixed a-okay)
Apricot White Chocolate (no spice added)
...well you get the idea, the combos are endless!

[louhi]

Looks yummy! Thank you for the recipe!

[Brackish Potato]

These sound so much better than store-bought granola bars! I'm gonna bookmark these!

[cinnamon teal]

Thank you for sharing this recipe! I've been wanting to make granola bars for a while now but didn't really know where to start. Do you know how long their shelf life is?

[Zefiryn]

Those look really awesome! What a great idea. I have most of that stuff already, the only thing I need to get is the sweetened condensed milk, and that's not very expensive anyways.

[pinkleo]

Do you know how long their shelf life is?

hmmmm....not quite sure...they never last the week in my house

[TansysMaySigh]

Mm may have to try this. I love how versitile it is in case we have different ingredients.

[leighi123]

These make me wish my son wasnt allergic to oats! 

[MareMare]

Sounds so good! I wonder what I could sub for the sweetened condensed milk? It's a little high in calories for me if I'm eating all those yummy nuts and seeds!

Oh that's awful leighi123! Poor little guy! I think I might have some problems with gluten so have been searching out alternatives to wheat, so have been focusing on rice and oats lately.

[stillatthetop]

Wow. What an incredible and edible "tute"! I mix these kinds of goodies all the time, but you spell it out well for those who are afraid to experiment. Yup. Just add up how many dry ingredients, and mix in what you like. For yours, about 6 cups of dry goodies, and then the gushies (choc. chips count as a semi-gooshie!) ..  the milk , then spices of choice. Raisins would be good here, too. Or any mix of what you like.

A substitute for the oatmeal would be plain old corn flake cereal. And go a bit shy on the gushies, for that (less milk product). And you can add a bit of honey, depending on what you wish sweetened. Like you said, the options are only limited in what your pantry or grocery store has.

And much cheaper for the kid snacks, or lunch bucket stuff that you can buy pre-packed. And less preservatives.