Granola bars, cereal bars, whatever you want to call them, I’m a fan. I’m a very picky fan though. I like them chewy, but with a touch of crispness for texture, I do not like them hard and crunchy. I also like them to be not overly sweet, something a lot of the store bought ones are.

Back in February Smitten Kitchen had a post on thick, chewy granola bars and I had been pondering on them ever since. I guess the best way to put it would be to say my recipe was inspired by hers. I took her base, adding some bits and pieces, taking some out, altering quantities and going from there.

I used oats as my main ingredient, but then added a hefty amount of rice cereal. It adds some lightness and crispness to the oats. They got bound together with a tiny amount of sugar and some butter and honey (next time, remind me to heat the honey up!).

Then I split the mix into three so I could tried a few different varieties. First batch had raisins and sultanas, the next dried apple and craisins and the third batch (of course) had chocolate chips.

They got pressed down into pans and baked out.

Now, they definitely need some work. I ended up under cooking them, the centres were falling apart while the outside was overdone, and I wouldn’t mind them being a bit thicker. But they had a good flavour, my favourite were the apple craisin where the tartness of the apple (granny smith – my favourite) and the craisins balanced the honey and butter in the base mix. Of course I used bittersweet chocolate so the little chunks of bitter chocolate were a delicious burst of flavour amongst the sweetness. They weren’t too sweet though, despite the honey and sugar, something I was pleased with. Definitely a good start.