What to Eat Wednesday

Happy Hump Day!

So today, I'm sharing my kids favorite granola bar recipe - or as we call them, Gorilla Bars.

When I first made this recipe, my big guy misunderstood me when I called them granola bars. He thought I had said Gorilla Bars. The name has stuck.

I found this recipe through the Taste of Home - Comfort Food Diet Cookbook.

This cookbook was such a great help to us when we started changing our diet and really starting to watch the calories we were eating.

I don't have a lot of pictures for this. Its really not hard though. Just prepare to get a bit messy.

The original recipe is {HERE} from Taste of Home. I've changed it a bit, because, well, that's what I do.

Some tips and tricks before you start - 

• Spray the inside of the 1/3 C measure (or whatever you're going to use for the honey) with PAM or cooking spray. It'll help get all that honey goodness out of there. 
• Line your baking pan with parchment paper, and make sure it over hangs the sides. This will be immensely helpful when taking the granola bars out to cool. You may end up with granola brittle if you don't. 
• I use my Kitchen Aid mixer, because the mixture gets burly, and I've tripped my breakers trying to use my handheld mixer. 
• Use a pizza cutter to cut up your gigantic granola bar into smaller pieces. Its so much easier than trying to wield a knife. 
• The original recipe says that it yields 36 pieces at 93 calories per piece. My version with 36 pieces is about 118 calories per piece, and if you go for the bigger size (24 pieces) its 177 calories per piece.

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Gorilla Bars

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I didn't use miniature chocolate chips in this picture. My children ate them all so I had to substitute in normal sized chocolate chips. The miniature ones are really much better for this recipe, because they distribute much more evenly in the bar.

Ingredients

• 1/2 C Peanut Butter
• 1/3 C Honey
• 1 Egg
• 2 Tbls Vegetable or Canola Oil
• 1 Tsp Vanilla Extract
• 3-1/2 C Old-Fashioned Oats
• 1/2 C Packed Brown Sugar
• Very small palmful of Salt (don't use more than 3/4 tsp if you have to measure it)
• 2 Medium Handfuls of Peanut Butter Chips
• 2 Medium Handfuls of Miniature Semi-Sweet Chocolate Chips

Directions 

1. Preheat oven to 350*, and line a 13x9 pan with parchment paper and then spray with cooking spray.
2. In a large mixer, combine the peanut butter, honey, egg, oil, and vanilla extract until blended. Don't over mix.
3. In another bowl, combine oats, brown sugar, and salt. Add to peanut butter mixture. Mix well. 
4. Stir in the chips. The mixture will be super sticky. 
5. Dump the mixture into the pan and using your fingers, press the mixture evenly into the bottom of the pan. Try not to make it even, you don't want it to bake unevenly. You will also have to really press the mixture into the corners. Almost massaging it into place. 
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until set and the edges are lightly browned. Cool on a wire rack. 
7. Once cooled, remove to a cutting mat or whatever you use, and slice up your huge granola bar into 36 pieces or 24. Store in an air tight container.   

I hope you guys whip yourselves up a batch of the original recipe or my version, and you can tell your kids that they're eating Gorilla Bars. 

Enjoy!

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