S'more Granola Bars

Today was our last chance to see Zara in 3D....I've been crawling on my hands and knees, kneeling on the couch with my ass in the air, and bouncing on an exercise ball to try and get her to turn. But now I just feel stupid cause it didn't work :( She is still breech and we couldn't get one clear picture. She is such a little punk! I hope she turns before it gets too late, cause if she doesn't I'll have to have a csection and I'm scared. Although I'm scared of normal birth too so I don't know! 

Btw here are a couple of my favorite maternity shirts I've been wearing for October! I just ordered a couple more cute ones too :)

Today was a day of baking for me. I knew we would go have dinner out since we were going to the appt late. So this morning I set out to make homemade granola bars for my husband. He loves them! I made 2 different kinds. A semi healthy version, and a completely not healthy version. 

First the healthier ones. Here are the ingredients:

Old fashioned rolled oats 4 Cups

Whole wheat flour 1/4 cup

Shredded unsweeted 

coconut 1⁄2 Cup 

Packed brown sugar 1⁄3 Cup

Semisweet chocolate chips 1 Cup

Kosher salt 1⁄2 Teaspoon

Grapeseed oil 1⁄2 Cup 

Vanilla extract 1 Teaspoon

Honey 1⁄2 Cup 

I put 4 cups of oats in a mixing bowl.

Then 1/4 cup of whole wheat flour. And 1/2 a cup of Shredded Coconut.

Half a cup of Milk Chocolate chips and half a cup of semi sweet mini chocolate chips, 1/3 packed cup of brown sugar, and 1/2 tsp of salt.

In another bowl I mixed together half a cup of Grapeseed oil, 1tsp of Vanilla, and half a cup of Honey. Then poured it over the dry mix.

Then mixed it till all of the dry ingredients were covered.

I took a baking sheet and covered it with parchment paper for easy removal. Then spread the granola mixture all over and patted it down. 

This I put in the oven for 40 mins at 325° then took it out when it turned brown. 

If you can tell I went a little too long. It was my first try tho! In my opinion I would use a smaller sheet pan to make them thicker and go for only 25 mins at that temperature. They were still good, just thinner than I'd like and crispy. 

James loved them but I said just you wait, now that I had the hang of it I was ready to see what I had in the pantry to make even better ones........hmmmmm, milk chocolate chips, honey graham cereal, and marshmallows? Dare I try S'mores?!?! Oh yes I did!

First I took a medium sauce pan, added 6 tablespoons of butter.

Added 1/3 cup of maple syrup and a tablespoon of salted caramel syrup cause I had it. And 1/4 cup of brown sugar.

Turned that on low to melt the sugar.

In a mixing bowl I added 2 cups of old fashioned Oats.

Then 1/2 a cup of Flour.

I had one of those mini boxes of honey grahams left from a variety box of cereals. 

No one eats it in my house so I knew I had to find something else to do with it. I put it in a bag and pounded it till it was crumbs, there weren't enough to make a cup so I added 2 rectangles of graham crackers crushed to finish the cup and added that into the bowl.

Then added 1/4 cup of unsweetened Coconut.

Then 1/4 tsp of cinnamon.

Next I took a smaller 8x8 square baking dish and cut parchment paper to fit with some hanging out for easy removal. Then rubbed it with butter. See not healthy!

Once the butter and sugar was melted I took it off the heat.

Then poured it over the dry mixture.

Mmmmm doesn't that look buttery and sugary and delicious?

Then I stirred to completely incorporate the dry and wet.

In the square dish I poured half of the mixture into it and patted it down.

Then sprinkled with a cup of milk chocolate chips and semi sweet mini chips.

Now I didn't have any mini marshmallows which would have been a lot easier but I had large marshmallows so I decided to chop them into small pieces and evenly spread them over the chocolate.

It was a little tedious and sticky but worth it.

Last I sprinkled the rest of the granola mixture over the marshmallows.

Patted it down and put in the oven at 350° for 15 mins. Till just golden brown. I wasn't going to make the same mistake I did with the first one and go too long. 

I let these cool and pulled them out to cut into bars.

Ok can I tell you how amazing these are? I think I ate 3 large ones all day. I couldn't stop myself! They are soft, chewy, sweet, and salty. Make them please!