I found this recipe on Smitten Kitchen. Like she says, it’s a recipe that is really flexible. Whatever your little breakfast heart desires, you can add to these bars (well, maybe not sausage or chicken fried steak breakfast desires but any dried fruit, nuts, seeds, flours…ya’ know, California type breakfast stuffs 🙂

These are perfect for the kiddos heading off to school for a quick and hearty breakfast to go. Truthfully, I liked them at all times of the day.

Thick and Chewy Breakfast Bars (adapted from Smitten Kitchen)

• 1 2/3 cup quick rolled oats
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup oat flour (just blitz the oats in a blender to get flour)
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp cinnamon
• 3 cups dried fruits and nuts chopped (I used cherries, raisins, apricots, pecans, flax seeds, chia seeds, and macadamia nuts)
• 1/3 cup peanut or other nut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 6 TBSP melted butter
• 1/4 cup maple syrup
• 2 TBSP honey
• 1 TBSP water

Directions pulled directly from SmittenKitchen: Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line an 8″ x 8″ x 2″ pan in one direction with parchment paper, allowing it to go up the opposing sides. Lightly grease the parchment paper and the exposed pan.

Stir together all the dry ingredients, including the fruit and nuts. In a separate bowl, whisk together the vanilla, melted butter, liquid sweeteners and water. Toss the wet ingredients with the dry (and peanut butter, if you’re using it) until the mixture is evenly crumbly. Spread in the prepared pan, pressing them in firmly to ensure they are molded to the shape of the pan. (A piece of plastic wrap can help with this, as you press down on the back of it.)

Bake the bars for 30 to 40 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges — don’t be afraid to get a little color on the tops too. They’ll still seem soft and almost underbaked when you press into the center of the pan but do not worry, they’ll set completely once completely cool.

Cool the bars in their pan completely on a cooling rack. (Alternately, after about 20 minutes you can use your parchment “sling” to lift and remove the bars, and place them in their paper on the rack to cool the rest of the way. This can speed the process up.)

Once cool, use a serrated knife to cut the bars into squares. If bars seem crumbly, chill the pan of them further in the fridge for 30 minutes which will fully set the “glue”, then cut them cold. To store, wrap the bars individually in plastic or stack them in an airtight container. In humid weather, it’s best to store bars in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.