Dirt Road Granola Bars

Today I'm sharing an old tried and true recipe from my family favorites. I've been making these for over 25 years and I can't believe I've never posted them. I don't remember where I got the recipe - probably from Taste of Home because back then, that was my source for a lot of recipes and this one has stood the test of time around here.

I always packed food when we left the dirt road and these were often packed into coolers when we were headed to homeschool or 4-H events, baseball games, stock shows, ropings, and ranch rodeos. It was always a challenge to keep everyone's hands out of them before we even left the dirt road.

Money was tight and we rarely ate out so portable meals were always welcome during road trips and these granola bars were a staple.

DIRT ROAD GRANOLA BARS

1/2 C softened butter

1 C packed brown sugar

1/4 C sugar

2 Tbsp honey

1/2 tsp vanilla

1 egg

1 C flour

1 tsp cinnamon

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp salt

1 1/2 C quick-cooking oats

1 1/2 C crisp rice cereal

1 C chopped nuts (sometimes is use pecans. sometimes I use sliced almonds)

1 C raisins or chocolate chips (I usually use chocolate chips, but am going to use dried cranberries next time)

*Cream butter and sugars. Add honey, vanilla, and egg - mixing well. Combine dry ingredients (flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt); add to creamed mixture. Stir in oats, cereal, nuts, and chocolate chips. Press into a 9"x13" baking pan. Bake at 350 for 30-45 minutes or until top is golden brown. Cut into bars when cooled. Wrap in plastic wrap.

The batter is really thick so you'll have to press it into the pan. If you want softer bars, do not cook past 30 minutes. If you're after crunchier bars, bake longer.

I've made these well over 100 times, but I haven't made them in a while so this gave me the opportunity to mix up a batch so I'd have a photo to share. 😉