Homemade Granola Bars

I make these for my daughter - last about a week in a covered container.

1 1/2 cups quick oatmeal
1 1/2 cups old fashioned oatmeal
1 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1 cup craisins
2/3 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup PB 2
1 can condensed milk
2 tbls butter, melted

Opt: 1 tbls honey or maple syrup and 1 tbls water

(Note: you can use anything you want for seeds/nuts/dried fruit. You can omit the PB2 but don't substitute regular peanut butter - it's too oily and cooks the oats too much)

Preheat oven to 350 and spray 9 X 13 pan with cooking spray. Add all ingredients to a bowl and mix thoroughly with your hands. Press firmly into the pan and bake for 22 minutes or until edges are starting to brown. Combine 1 tbls of honey or maple syrup with 1 tbls water and brush over the granola bars with a pastry brush. Cool slightly and then cut into 36 small bars or 18 large bars.

These:
http://thegirlwhowentpaleo.blogspot.com/2012/08/pumpkin-breakfast-cookies.html
were also very soft and so I kept them in the freezer. I cut the pan into 10, so I went through them in two weeks.

These:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/barsandsquares/FruitandNutBars.html
were more solid and I've been keeping them in a zip lock bag in the refrigerator. I cut this pan into 12 bars and am 1-1/2 weeks through them -- they seem fine.

I ate the Pumpkin Breakfast Cookies/Bars right from the freezer. They don't freeze at all and even from the freezer were pretty soft. Next time I'm reducing the amount of honey, as I expect that's the culprit.

Here are a couple of other recipes that I plan to try:

http://www.mamamanifesto.com/2010/12/almond-butter-breakfast-bars.html#

http://www.bojongourmet.com/2013/01/vegan-and-gluten-free-breakfast-bars.html#

http://cavewomancafe.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/new-beginnings/

Yesterday I made the Almond Butter Bars from my post above. I substituted a natural peanut butter cause that's what I had on hand. I'd say they were just okay, maybe a 6 out of 10. They are soft and chewy, with too little crunch for me. Actually they have too little of the dried fruit as well -- now that I think about it, I don't think the bar I ate today had any of the dried cranberries. You can taste the peanut butter and the banana and they are not too sweet (I left out the optional brown sugar). I will probably not make these again, but will be eating them for breakfast for the next 2 weeks.