Chewy Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

My kids love granola bars.  LOVE them.  The chewy, sugary kind from Quaker, which are peanut-free and safe to take to school, but with no nutritional punch and LOTS of chocolate.  I wanted to give them something a little healthier, but still tender and tasty so I modified my recipe from this website, which has lots of variations and updates.  You should check it out!  The first time I made these I bought hemp seed granola from the Bulk Barn (because it was on sale), but have since started making my own - it is really easy, and much lower in fat and sugar than the store bought variety. I especially love that I can control and customize the ingredients, and homemade is SO much cheaper than store bought!  For my homemade granola recipe, click here.

So, ready to make some bars?  Here we go.

Ingredients:
4 Tbsp butter
2 Tbsp brown sugar
2 Tbsp honey
2 cups granola (click for the recipe, or use your favourite)
1 cup crisp rice cereal
1/4 - 1/2 cup chocolate chips (regular or mini)

Butter, oil, or spray an 11x8 pan (or 2 loaf pans) and set aside.
In a medium saucepan, combine the butter, sugar and honey.  Stir over medium heat until the butter melts and the mixture starts to boil.  Turn the heat down to medium-low and set a timer for two minutes.  Continue to stir as the mixture boils.  When the 2 minutes are up, remove the pot from the heat and stir in the granola and rice cereal.  Stir until everything is well coated and combined, then turn into your prepared pans.  Press down firmly with the back of a spoon or spatula (or use a piece of buttered waxed paper).  Sprinkle the chocolate chips over the top and press them in firmly.  Allow to cool at least twenty minutes (I sometimes do this just before bed and leave them on the counter overnight).  Turn out onto a clean surface and cut into bars.  If they are too crispy, you can either cut back on the boiling time of your butter mixture or not press quite so hard into the pan.  Too soft, and you can try boiling the mix a little longer, or pressing everything a little harder into your pan.  Depending on the size of your bars, this recipe yields 10 - 14 servings.