Tuesday, July 01, 2008

Honey Crunch Cereal Peanut Butter Bars

Do you ever make a mistake in your grocery shopping and buy something that especially the kids decide they don't like and don't ever plan on eating?  I made such a mistake recently and bought a box of store brand cereal, the kind that is like Post Honeycomb Cereal.  The boys decided they don't really like that cereal.  So I kept seeing the box sit in the pantry for a couple weeks, uneaten.  I knew it was open and that it wouldn't last too long before it was stale tasting and I just don't like "wasting" food.  SO, I just happened to notice on the box there were a couple of recipes and I made one today and used up five cups of the cereal.  And to top it all off, the recipe is great!  I like it (not such a good thing) and the kids like it, so they don't even know it has the cereal in it, as it is ground up, and they are loving these peanut butter bars.  It's really like a peanut butter/chocolate candy.  I really liked the chewy honey flavor of the peanut butter layer.  Here's the recipe from the box that I adapted slightly.  With the rest of the box sometime in the near future I will make the other recipe posted on the box--it's for Rocky Road Bars.  Hmmm....

5 cups Honey Crunch Cereal (Honeycomb would work), crushed

1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup light corn syrup

3/4 cup creamy peanut butter

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips (I used milk chocolate as I think it goes better with peanut butter)

1 tablespoon butter, softened

Line an 8x8 inch baking pan with foil, spray lightly with cooking spray.  Set aside.  Crush cereal in food processor.  Set aside.  In a medium microwave-safe bowl, combine brown sugar, honey and corn syrup.  Microwave on medium power until mixture comes to a boil.  (It took mine 3-4 30 second intervals.)  Stir peanut butter into syrup mixture and pour over cereal.  Stir to coat evenly.  Press mixture into pan.

Place chocolate chips in a medium microwave safe bowl.  Microwave on medium power for 30 seconds, stir.  Repeat until chips are smooth and melted.  Add butter, stir until smooth.  Spread chocolate mixture over cereal mixture. I sprinkled some chopped dry roasted peanuts over the melted chocolate-just to make sure they were peanutty enough.  They would have been fine without, but they look pretty!  Chill; cut into bars.

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