Homemade Cliff Bars

This is one of my favorite posts/recipes to date.  I see nutritional or energy bars at the store and have to buy them to try the taste of each one.  It gets expensive, let me tell ya!  I decided to try and venture out on my own to see if I could make them homemade - cheaper and most likely better for your then store bought.  I thought they were very good, and perfect to wrap up and eat whenever you're on the go and hungry.

You'll need 1 1/4 cups of rice cereal.  I used Rice Krispies, gluten free, and they worked perfectly.

In a large bowl combine rice cereal, oats, flax seed, dried fruit and nuts.

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, bring syrup and brown sugar to a boil.  Stirring constantly, then remove from heat.  

Stir in nut butter and vanilla until well blended.

Pour nut butter over the cereal mixture, stirring until the mixture is well coated.  This step is really important, if all the cereal mixture isn't coated the bars won't stick together when cooled.

Press mixture firmly into a 8-inch square pan, sprayed with non-stick spray.  Cool in pan or on a wire rack.  Cut into bars and wrap tightly in plastic to store.

These were tasty and very filling!  I wrapped them and kept the remaining in the fridge and would grab one when I was on the go and they worked perfectly.  You can also change the ingredients, add chocolate chips or other dried fruits that you might like.  Enjoy and have a nice weekend!

Homemade Cliff Bars

Serving Size 12

1 1/4 cup crisp rice cereal

1 cup uncooked oats

3 tablespoons flax seed

1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (I used raisins and cranberries)

1/4 cup chopped nuts (I used walnuts and peanuts)

1/4 cup honey (or brown rice syrup or maple syrup)

2 tablespoons dark brown sugar

1 teaspoons vanilla extract

In a large bowl combine rice cereal, oats, flax seed, dried fruit and nuts.

In a medium sauce pan over medium heat, bring syrup and brown sugar to a boil.  

Stirring constantly, then remove from heat.  

Stir in nut butter and vanilla until well blended.

Pour nut butter over the cereal mixture, stirring until the mixture is well coated.

Press mixture firmly into a 8-inch square pan, sprayed with non-stick spray.  

Cool in pan or on a wire rack.  

Cut into bars and wrap tightly in plastic to store.