Homemade Granola Bars

We love granola bars around here!  A box of 42 can disappear in a week.  I thought making a batch as needed would be easier and maybe cheaper- we'll see!

Granola Bar Recipe:

1 cup of rice krispy cereal
2 cups of quick oats (traditional oats will NOT work.  Also,  you could sub this for 2 cups of loose granola but I haven't tried that)

Mix those together and set aside.

In a pot, combine:

1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup butter
1.5 cups marshmellows

Heat on medium until everything is smooth and combined.  Leave it on the heat until you see bubbles, almost like it's boiling.  This is necessary to get the oats to cook and stick together.

Pour the wet mixture over the dry mixture and stir stir stir!

In an ungreased pan (mine was a Pyrex pan about 10x8.5 or so) pour your mixture.  Spray a spatula with Pam and use it to press, press, press, and press again.  You need to pack this TIGHTLY.

Sprinkle a handful of mini chocolate chips over the top and gently press down with your spatula so they stick..

Let cool for about 2 hours.  I usually refrigerate it after the first hour.

Slice into bars and enjoy!  These ARE shelf stable, but I find they stay together as bars better in the fridge and they still taste great!

*Have fun mixing and matching ingredients!  I've heard great things about adding peanut butter to the pot, raisins to the dry mixture, peanut butter or butterscotch chips, etc.