Peanut Butter Honey Cheerios Bars
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Need a tasty sweet treat that also provides some nutrition? This recipe for peanut butter, honey and Cheerios bars is made using only the simplest ingredients. A great way to make a “good for you” family snack. This is one of the easiest ways to get some protein, honey and fiber in the tummies of your picky eaters.
How to Make Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars with Honey
Making your own homemade snacks is the best way to know what is in the recipe. Yes, the purchased cereal may contain unknowns but I always feel that homemade goods are less of a mystery.
You can often save money by cooking at home too! Snack foods are expensive and making your own may help keep your food budget under control.
Ingredients
- Cheerios (I use multi-grain)
- creamy peanut butter
- honey
- vanilla extract
- semi-sweet chocolate chips
Cheerios: Use can you any type of Cheerios cereal. I think plain Cheerios without any flavoring blend well with the flavor of the other ingredients.
However, multi grain is also a good choice because they have a bit less sugar than some of the varieties and add more fiber.
Peanut Butter: In this type of recipe, creamy peanut butter works well. It is easier to mold the snacks into shape without the added bits of nut found in crunchy.
However, crunchy will work if that is what you have in the pantry.
Honey: I always use raw. It keeps forever, if your honey is stored properly. It is an essential item for your pantry because there are so many other ways to use honey.
When cooking, I try to incorporate honey into my recipes – instead of regular sugar – as much as possible.
Even though it has calories, it is a natural sugar with a lot to offer. You can even make homemade gummy bears!
Chocolate Chips: As with many snacks, semi-sweet chocolate chips work well in this recipe. You do not want to have too much sweetness. Semi-sweet gives just a kiss of chocolate flavor to your peanut butter cereal snacks.
Steps for Putting it All Together
Here we go with this easy recipe that only requires a bit of time and no heavy lifting in the kitchen.
1. After measuring out your ingredients, its time to combine the peanut butter and honey. You will gently warm them in the microwave to loosen them up.
Once they are warm they will blend together much easier. Don’t forget to throw a bit of vanilla flavoring in there – but that is optional.
2. Mix about half the Cheerios and all the semi-sweet chocolate chips in the warm mixture. Stir gently to coat well. Then, add the remainder of the Cheerios and coat those as well.
3. Dump the mix into a parchment lined pan or dish. Use a spatula (or similar) tool to press the ingredients firmly down into the pan.
Place in the freezer for an hour or so – this makes the peanut butter Cheerio bars so much easier to cut.
4. After the cooling time, remove the “slab” from the container. Use a large knife to cut your bars to the size desired. Store in an air-tight container.
Storing
Kept in an air-tight container, your peanut butter cereal bars can sit on the counter for a week. Put them in the refrigerator if you plan to keep them for 2 weeks.
For longer storage, they can be frozen and will stay in good shape for several months.
Expert Tips
- As with some types of recipes – especially candies, you will have better success making this recipe when the humidity is low.
- Try a half sized batch at first. If they are a bit too sweet for you, next time use a bit more peanut butter and a little less honey.
- I only added a small amount of chocolate chips because I did not want the chocolate to overpower the flavor – also they represent added calories.
- If you do find that these are a bit stickier than you desire, just pop them in the frig for a bit. They are delicious cold too.
Small Homemade Gift Idea
If you need a lot of small gifts for someone for any occasion, these homemade goodies work well. Form the mix into a larger sized ball – 1 cup size and place inside some type of gift bag.
A sweet little gift that is sure to delight. If you use peanut butter – do be sure to put an allergy alert on each one – just in case.
This is not the only honey friendly recipe you can make using cereal.
Have you ever heard about honey cornflakes? Known as Honey Joys, they are very popular in Australia and very easy to make.
If you want to create something extra special for a nut lover, try my honey roasted cashews of honey glazed almonds – create a combination gift of both kinds!
And, if you are true fiend for peanut butter – don’t forget to try these energy bites with peanut butter, oatmeal and honey.
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Peanut Butter Honey Cheerios Bars Recipe
Ingredients
- 6 cups multi-grain Cheerios
- 1 cup peanut butter
- 1 cup honey
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add the peanut butter and honey to a large microwavable bowl. Stir gently to mix ingredients together just a bit. Microwave for 1 minute.Remove from microwave and stir well. Return to microwave again and heat an additional 30-45 seconds – we want the mix to be very warm and incorporated but not scorched. Add additional 10 second intervals with stirring in between if needed.
- Add vanilla extract to the mixture and stir.
- Pour about half the Cheerios into to the warm mixture – sprinkle the semi-sweet chocolate chips across the top. Gently stir until coated.
- Add the remainder of the Cheerios and stir gently with a large spoon until all the cereal is coated .
- Pour the ingredients into 10″x 10″ (or similar) pan or baking dish that has been lined with parchment paper. Use a spatula to press down firmly.
- Place in the freeze for 1 hour. This allows the Peanut Butter cheerios to set and makes cutting the bars easier.After an hour, remove from freezer and lift the mix from the pan using the parchment paper. Now cut into bars and enjoy.
