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I came across these Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars on Pinterest when my friend Candi pinned them. I clicked over to the recipe and was happy to discover that I had all the ingredients that I needed, and hey! it was dessert night (which I admittedly hadn’t thought about ahead of time).

I used to like the Quaker granola bars you can buy at the grocery store, but I don’t buy them often because there’s a lot of junk packed into such a small bar, and I usually write it off to just not being worth it.

And though these aren’t health food either, I like them because they’re sweet but there’s not a lot of sugar, and they were nice and easy to make (even though they have to sit for a while, it’s worth it). Older kids could easily make these with minimal help.

Mike and the girls (and me) loved these!

Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars
from Farmgirl Gourmet

2 cups crispy rice cereal
2 1/2 cups quick cooking oats
1/3 cup honey
1/4 cup light brown sugar
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 tablespoons miniature chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 200 degrees F. Spray a 9×13 inch pan with cooking spray and set aside.

In a large bowl add the crispy rice and oats and mix to combine. Set aside.

In a small saucepan add the honey, brown sugar and butter and bring to a simmer. Heat for 3 minutes until it becomes syrupy and remove from heat. Add the vanilla and pour over the rice and oat mixture. Stir well to coat and pour into the prepared baking pan. Lay a piece of parchment over the pan and press the oat mixture down. Sprinkle with the chocolate chips and press down again.

Bake at 200 for 25 minutes. Turn off the heat and allow to remain in the oven for 2 hours. Invert onto a cutting board and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

I’ve slowly started changing over my modest collection of holiday decor from Valentine’s Day stuff to St. Patrick’s Day stuff. If I thought I had very little to pack away for V-Day, I’ve got even less to bring out for St. Patrick’s Day!

But it’s not a big deal. By the middle of the month I’m tired of it anyway and I’ll have Easter and spring stuff out soon enough, so hey, less work for me! That doesn’t mean I get tired of holiday-appropriate baking, though. It definitely takes me longer to get past that and move on to the next season. Read More

I came thisclose to not doing this week’s Tuesday With Dorie assignment for Chocolate Truffle Tartlets.

I didn’t have tartlet pans, I didn’t want to have to hunt down biscotti, and the directions made me exhausted just reading them. But then I got swept up in the enthusiasm and decided I needed to give it a shot, long process or not!

I ended up getting the tartlet pans from Amazon and managed to find a box of biscotti at the grocery store, so I was set. I warned my family ahead of time that I’d probably be baking for most of Sunday and to not get their hopes up about me participating in much else (yeah, that always plays out well). Read More