Granola Bars

This is a recipe from a good friend from high school. These are very good, and you can use many variations. I cut them up in the size of granola bars and put them in baggies and it is a fun treat for the kids to have after school or whenever.

1/2 c. firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 c. light corn syrup
1 c. peanut butter
1 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 c. quick oats
1 1/2 c. rice krispies
1/2 c. coconut
1/2 c. sunflower seeds
2 tbsp. sesame seeds (I leave the sunflower and sesame seeds out)

(I double the recipe and it works great in a cookie sheet)

In a pan combine brown sugar and corn syrup. Bring to a boil and add peanut butter and vanilla. Mix other ingredients in a large bowl. Pour melted mixture over dry ingredients. mix well. Press into a greased cookie sheet. When cool cut into desired size.

So I do variations on this recipe. For a "healthier" version I use grape nuts instead of rice krispies and it makes it much crunchier. I also put in craisins which I love, but I find that when I add craisins then I need to less my grape nuts to only 1 cup other wise there isn't enough of the melted mixture to make it stick together.

The other variation I do is I add craisins and chocolate chips to the regular dry mixture. The melted mixture just barely melts the chocolate chips and make it more into a dessert.