Diva In The Kitchen: Breakfast Bars

The hubby and I were in the market for a granola/breakfast bar recipe.  We've been snacking on 100 calorie granolas and the box is getting low.  I can't tell you how many calories each of these is because I forgot to write down caloric content when I got my bulk items at Winco....but I can tell you that they are really yummy and soft and not overly sticky.  They have a great cinnamon flavor as well.

As with most recipes I tweaked it a bit.  My changes will be italicized.

Homemade Breakfast Bars

Ingredients

• 1 cup almond or peanut butter (I used almond butter)
• 3/4 cup dark agave nectar or honey 
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 cups old fashioned rolled oats (I used 1 cup oats and 2 cups of plain rice krispies. They were less calories.)
• 1 cup toasted slivered almonds
• 1/4 to 1/2 cup raisins or other dried fruit (I used 3/4 cup of dried blueberries)

Directions

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.  Spray a 9 inch square pan with canola cooking spray.  Combine almond butter and agave in a heavy bottomed sauce pan over medium-high heat.  Whisk until melted - three to five minutes.  Stir in vanilla and cinnamon.  Add in oats/krispies, almonds and raisins/dried fruit.

Bake for 15 minutes.  Let cool completely and cut into nine equal squares.  (I only have an 8 inch square pan, so I used that.  Since the bars were going to be thicker than the recipe, I cut them into 12 long rectangles like an actual granola bar.)