Homemade Coconut Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

For a while now, I have been wanting to make homemade healthy snacks. I have become wary of all the artificial ingredients in so many things we eat, so making them myself allows me to use natural ingredients. It also saves us a little money instead of buying them at the grocery store. 

I saw several yummy-looking recipes on Pinterest and decided to make this one I adapted a bit. A couple things I added were coconut oil and shredded coconut. After reading so many good things about coconut oil, I am trying to integrate it into our daily meals. I even added a tiny splash of coconut extract to enhance the coconut flavor. I love how they turned out. For an extra treat, you can spread some peanut butter on top too. If fact, I like the peanut butter so much that I'm going to add some to the next batch.

Ingredients:

• 2 Cups instant oats
• 1-1/4 cups crispy rice cereal
• 1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped semi sweet chocolate
• 1/3 cup lightly packed dark brown sugar
• 1/3 cup raw honey
• 1/3 cup virgin coconut oil
• 1/4 cup shredded coconut
• A splash of coconut extract

Instructions:

1. Mix the oats, rice cereal and shredded coconut together in a bowl.
2. In a medium pan, combine the coconut oil, honey and brown sugar.
3. Heat the sugar over medium-high heat until it all foams/boils together (about 1-2 minutes).  If you don’t boil it long enough nothing will stick together.
4. Once the sugar/oil mix comes together, add it to the oat mix with a splash of coconut extract (if using) and stir until it’s completely combined.
5. Lay it out in a square pan evenly (if you use coconut oil, you do not need to spray the pan).
6. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave. Once the oat mix cools off a bit, spread on top of the granola bars.
7. Refrigerate bars until chocolate is set. You can then eat them cold out of the refrigerator (which is how we liked them) or let them come to room temperature. Just cut them, serve and enjoy!

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