My son, who has been sick for the last week and hasn’t eaten solid food for a good 5 days, devoured one of these bars yesterday. He passed on ice cream for dinner last night (I only offered as a last resort to get some calories in the man, I promise it’s not a normal menu item!) but he loved these granola bars. When I asked him if he wanted a granola bar, he headed toward the pantry, but I redirected him to the kitchen, telling him Mommy made them from scratch. He then walked around the dining room eating his bar and calling it “Scratch!” Hence the name Scratch Bars!
As I’ve mentioned, I gave up refined sugar for Lent. The hardest part of this is right after a meal, when I crave a little something sweet. So today I whipped up these granola bars to nibble on after dinner. They are sweetened with honey, which I would prefer to be raw honey, but we live in a small town, so my selection is limited. This combination of peanut butter and honey is so delicious. It brings me back to childhood when my mom would make me peanut butter and honey sandwiches.
SCRATCH BARS
1/4 cup coconut oil or butter
1/2 cup honey
1/3 cup natural peanut butter
2 cups quick cooking oats
1 cup brown rice crisp cereal
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chocolate chips, raisins, nuts, or dried fruit
Combine oats, brown rice cereal, and chocolate chips, raisins, or nuts in a large bowl.
Melt coconut oil or butter over medium heat, add honey and peanut butter and stir until peanut butter is melted. Remove from heat and add vanilla, stirring to combine.
Pour peanut butter mixture over the dry ingredients. Stir until oats and cereal are coated.
Pour mixture into a 9 x9 pan and press down firmly. Place in the freezer for 30 minutes to set. Cut into bars and wrap individually or layer between sheets of wax paper.
These bars hold together best when stored in the refrigerator.
simmer & savor 