Almond Butter Granola Bars

I was playing with my granola again!

This recipe for granola bars is very kid friendly. It hits on all the right notes for kids: chocolate and peanut butter. Although this uses almond butter, you could easily substitute peanut butter or cashew butter. Trader Joe’s sells a cookie butter that is all the rage. That may work here too. Check out my original recipe for granola bars, it's packed full of good stuff.

ALMOND BUTTER GRANOLA BARS:

Active Time: 20 minutes

Inactive Time: 2 hours

Servings: 9-12 square bars

2 1/2 cups of quick cooking oats

1/2 cup slivered almonds**

1/4 cup millet**

1/4 cup sunflower seeds**

1/4 cup of flax seed**

**Use your favorite combination of nuts/seeds

1/2 stick of unsalted butter

1/3 cup of orange blossom honey (or any flavor honey you prefer)

1/3 cup brown sugar

Salt

1/2 tsp vanilla

1/2 cup natural almond butter

1/3 cup of  semi-sweet chocolate, melted

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the oats,  nuts and seeds for about 10 minutes. Stir the oat mixture after 5 minutes. Transfer the concoction to a large bowl,  add  1/2 cup of almond butter and a pinch of salt.

In a small sauce pan over medium heat, melt butter, sugar, honey and 1/4 tsp salt.  Remove from heat and add vanilla. Pour the honey mixture over the toasted oats/seeds and combine until everything is coated.

Press the oats into 8x8 foil lined pan. Chill in the refrigerator for 2 hours.

Cut into 9-12 bars, depending on what size you like.

Use a double boiler to melt your chocolate. You can also microwave the chocolate in increments of 30 seconds, stirring in between, until the chocolate is smooth.

Be careful, chocolate will sieze up if over heated. You can add a tablespoon of Crisco to help keep the chocolate smooth.  Drizzle the semi-sweet chocolate over the cut bars. Let the chocolate harden and transfer the bars to a tightly sealed container at room temperature.

They will be good to eat for upto a week.