Peanut Butter and Honey Oat Bars

Hey, hey, hey!  Happy Friday!!  Woohoo the weekend is here!!

How are things going?  Big plans for the weekend?  They say it’s suppose to be nice out, low 70’s, so I’m crossing my fingers.  I would love to go for a hike or something, but I know I shouldn’t do that and do some yard work instead.  Between the winter and my dogs, my yard is a mess and so full of weeds.  Ugh!!!  But at least I can prep my vegetable garden!!  I just have to figure out a way to keep my dogs out of it.  I have my garden fenced in, but my dog Sampson, tries to pull the vegetables through the fence and once he gets the taste of tomatoes, it’s all over. He tries and tries to get to the plants.  What’s even worse is we have sandy soil, so it’s super easy to dig up, meaning my dog digs a hole under the fence and goes under.  He is such work!!  I’m thinking we should put chicken wire around the fence and bury it in the ground, but some how I don’t think that will work, but it’s worth a shot.  Any suggestions?  But if you are doing yard work or hiking and you need some energy, I have the perfect snack for you.

These are my Peanut Butter and Honey Oat Bars.  My inspiration for this snack is the Nature Valley Honey Oat Bars.  I love those snack bars, but I wanted one with peanut butter and I wanted one that was natural, so I took the ingredients that I only wanted in my bar and whipped these together in a matter of minutes!

I made these bars with a few simple ingredients; honey, honey roasted peanuts, peanut butter, coconut oil, cinnamon and vanilla.  I heated the honey, coconut oil and peanut butter in a microwave safe bowl for 50 seconds total.  Added my vanilla, cinnamon, oats and peanuts; gave it a good mix and baked it for 25 minutes.  How easy is that?

These bars are so peanut buttery and sweet, with just the hint of cinnamon.  The honey roasted peanuts that I used are my favorite.  they are the same ones I use to make my peanut butter.  I buy them at Trader Joe’s.  If you like honey roasted peanuts you should pick up a bag at TJ’s.  I personally think they are the best nuts around!  Yes, I’ll say it, I like TJ’s nuts!  lol  Wow, two weeks in a row with nut jokes!  he he

The bars are not super crunchy bars, but pretty firm, but easy to bite and chew.  I originally wanted a hard bar, but after having a bite I realized that the texture was just right.  You do get a slight snap when you break it.  Plus an added bonus, I made these for my Husbands lunches and he informed me that the dentist told him to stay away from crunchy foods for a while, which makes these bars perfect for him!!  It’s a make me feel good snack that I can make for my family.

Peanut Butter and Honey Oat Bars

Nutrition Information

• Serves: 16 Bars

• Serving size: 1 Bar

Prep time:  5 mins

Cook time:  25 mins

Total time:  30 mins

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A natural, gluten-free oat bar filled with chopped nuts, peanut butter and sweetened with honey.

Ingredients

• ½ cup honey
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• ⅓ cup peanut butter
• ½ tsp vanilla extract
• ¼ tsp. cinnamon, ground
• 2 cups oats (I used Trader Joe's Gluten Free Oats)
• ½ cup chopped honey roasted peanuts

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 300 F
2. Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper, making sure the parchment paper hangs over the sides.
3. In a microwave safe bowl, add honey, coconut oil and peanut butter. Microwave for 30 seconds, stir until mixture gets runny and peanut butter completely melted in. You may have to heat for another 20 seconds or so. Mix in vanilla extract and cinnamon.
4. Add oats and peanuts, mix until everything is combined and the mixture is completely coated with honey and peanut butter mixture.
5. Pour mixture into prepared pan and press down with a back of a spoon; bake in the oven for 20 -25 minutes until lightly brown.
6. Once you take the bars out of the oven, press down with the back of a spoon to insure the oats are pressed firmly together. Let the oat bars cool slightly and carefully take out bars by grabbing onto the parchment paper and cut into 16 slices. Let bars cool completely and harden at room temperature.
7. Store bars in an air tight container in the refrigerator.

Notes

Calories per bar: 157.2, Fat: 8.1, Cholesterol: 0, Sodium: 31, Potassium: 38, Carbs: 18.8, Fiber: 2, Sugar: 10.4, Protein: 3.9

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I store these Oat Bars in the refrigerator in a sealed tight container.  I am not sure how they will do at room temperature, but honestly I think they would be fine.

Well my Friends, time to get rolling.  Time to make lunch!!

Have a wonderful weekend!!

Toodles,

Jennifer

P.S.  Don’t forget it’s time to move the clocks forward one hour this weekend.  Daylight savings time begins at 2:00 am on Sunday morning!  Yah more daylight!!!

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