Soft and Chewy Granola Bars

I really like how these homemade granola bars don't fall apart.  I've tried a couple of different recipes and the ingredients just don't hold together as good as these ones do.  I also really like how you can control the texture with these bars.  You can make them extra crunchy or really smooth.  They're really easy to make and I like seeing a stash of them in my freezer so I know when I get that afternoon snack urge I can grab one and not be tempted to open the box of Oreo's.  They're really filling, dense, thick and soft and make a great grab-and-go snack.  They also have this power of leaving you with a "I'm really proud of myself for making homemade granola bars" feeling.  You should try it.  It'll make you happy.

Soft and Chewy Granola Bars

Yield: 10 bars 

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats (old fashioned or quick or a mixture of both)

2 cups pretzels, crushed down to about 1 heaping cup

1/2 cup salted peanut halves

1 cup peanut butter

1/2 cup honey, pure and raw recommended

1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Toss the oats, crushed pretzels and salted peanut halves together in a large bowl.  I like to take half of this mixture and pulse it in my food processor until it's really smooth.  Then I stir it back into the large bowl.  If you want your bars really crunchy you can leave this step out.  If you want your bars really smooth you can pulse all of it - although I've never done this before so I'm not 100% positive how that would turn out.

Stir the peanut butter, honey and vanilla together in a separate bowl until smooth and creamy.  Pour the mixture over the dry ingredients and stir until combined.

Press the mixture into a 9x9-inch pan lined with parchment paper and freeze for 30 minutes.  After 30 minutes, lift the mixture out of the pan using the parchment paper and cut into bars.  I find it makes a nice, even 10 bars but you can make them smaller or larger according to how you like.  Wrap each bar individually in saran wrap and store in the freezer.  

Note: You want to make sure you really like the brand of your pretzels, peanuts and peanut butter because you can really taste their flavors.  You can also add more peanut butter or honey if your mixture seems to dry or crumbly or you can add more oats or pretzels if the mix seems too heavy.  I haven't had to do either because the above amounts have worked great for our family.  This recipe is a granola bar base - feel free to add more mix-ins if you'd like. 

Recipe Source:  Adapted slightly from pinchofyum.com