No Bake Trail Mix Granola Bars

There are some days that I shouldn’t be allowed to step foot in the kitchen.

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Let’s just say it this way: I’m really, really clumsy and wasn’t born with the highest level of common sense.

Exhibit A: When I was younger, I told my parents I wanted to be a librarian so I could rent books for free. No joke.

The last week and half has been bad for me with remembering things and getting new bruises. I’m blaming it on all the late nights and no sleep from watching the Olympics, but really…this is kind of normal for me.

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Last Friday, I ran into this one wall at work 4 times in one day. 4 times! How does that even happen? I also ran into the corner of my desk twice, leaving a nice bruise on my leg.

On Saturday, Nick and I went and did some work on our old house. Everything was going great until I got stung – on the butt – by a wasp. Holy stinger, it hurt. I spent the rest of the afternoon swatting at imaginary bugs and ducking under every kind of fly or gnat I saw. I also got myself a sweet two-tank top tan line on my back that’s going to look awesome with my strapless bathing suit at the beach next month.

And then the kicker from this week: I apparently don’t even know how old I am.

In my post the other day, I said I was 28. I’m not 28. I’m 29. I’ve been 29 for 2 months now. Why do I not know how old I am? And why in the world did it take me 2 days to figure out that I wasn’t still 28?

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Weeks like these are when I should stay away from hot ovens, open flames, and hot peppers. It’s just not a smart idea to be working with dangerous things when I’m already bumping into walls – more than once – and forgetting things about myself that I should know.

It’s a good thing I already had these planned for this weekend, because I didn’t feel like it was a good idea to go near anything that could burn me.

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I would love to say that I made these for us to take on our trip this weekend…but I didn’t. I made them because I had mini m&ms in the pantry that I needed to use up before we ate them all on their own.

But they’re delicious! All my favorite things about trail mix in a bar. These are full of oats and my top trail mix things: sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, dried cherries, and m&ms.

Can you even call a trail mix “trail mix” if it doesn’t have m&ms? I don’t think so.

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The best thing about these bars is that they get even better after sitting in the fridge. Wrap them up in plastic wrap, keep in the fridge (or freezer!) and you’ve got a great breakfast, snack, or dessert ready to go.

No Bake Trail Mix Granola Bars

Makes: 12-16 servings (or 24, depending on how large you want them)

Ingredients:

  • 2 cups old fashioned oats
  • 1 cup crisp rice cereal (I used a chocolate version)
  • 1/3 cup dried cherries
  • 1/3 cup mini m&ms
  • 1/3 cup chocolate chips
  • 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
  • 2/3 cup honey
  • 1/3 cup peanut butter
  • 1 tsp vanilla

Directions:

  1. Pour the oats, cereal, cherries, m&ms, chocolate chips, and sunflower seeds into a large bowl and mix together.
  2. In a microwave safe bowl, mix the honey and peanut butter. Heat for 30-45 seconds until the honey is warm and you can easily mix the peanut butter into the honey. Stir in the vanilla.
  3. Pour the honey and peanut butter mixture into the dry ingredients and mix together, using your hands to get to the bottom of the bowl.
  4. Dump the granola bar mix into a greased 9×13 baking dish. With greased hands or a piece of parchment paper, press the mix into an even layer in the dish, using as much pressure as you can while keeping it as even as possible in the baking dish.
  5. Cover the dish and place in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour before cutting and serving.

32 comments

  1. These look delicious, but more importantly, I think I’ve done all of those things- walking into walls, mystery bruises, stung on the butt…I could definitely use more recipes that don’t risk me burning myself! The librarian thing cracks me up.

  2. I love the M&M’s in these! What a great idea.

    Have a wonderful weekend girl!

  3. Awesome recipe!! I am definitely going to try these!!!

  4. Since it’s literally been 58046840864 degrees outside, I can totally get on board with the no baking!

  5. These look terrific. They look just like the Chewy granola bars I used to eat ages ago.

  6. What a simple and delicious granola recipe! Perfect for these hot summer days when I don’t want to turn on my oven! And I’m right there with you…I’m sooo clumsy!

  7. I’ve only tried making granola bars once before, but I really should make them more often. The ingredients in homemade bars comapred to store-bought are much more impressive – even with fun little treats like M&Ms!

  8. in my head i’m still 18..sometimes 21…definitely not 26! and i have a clumsiness problem as well so i can completely relate :)

    these bars look delicious–huge fan of anything granola bar-ish–esp if it’s no bake!

  9. Love that these are no bake, which means they must be nice and chewy.

  10. I am just as clumsy, so I can completely relate to what you are saying. These bars are perfect! They would make a great treat for a lunch box, I think my 7 year old would love them!
    And yes, Trail Mix MUST include M&M’s.

  11. I totally feel ya! Yesterday I ran into the dishwasher corner even after I told myself the door was down! Such a dork. Anyways, these bars look very tasty! And you can never go wrong with mini M&M’s!

  12. Why do they need to be refrigerated? They don’t have any ingredients that usually need refrigerated.

  13. I’ve been pinning a lot of your stuff. :-)

  14. These are super fun! Great idea!

  15. I have my clumsy moments too ;) These look SO yummy. DELICIOUSNESS!

  16. Reading this post I felt like I was reading about myself. I am super clumsy too! I hope people find the bruises, stains and social gaffes endearing. All you can do is laugh and move on! P.S. your trail mix bars look awesome.

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  18. These are my kind of granola bars, especially since they contain m&m’s and chocolate crisp rice cereal! :)

  19. Those are most definitely insulin worthy!! Yum!

  20. Oh man, i need to make this for the field techs i work with! It would certainly be a treat in the jungle!

  21. oh yum!! love that shot of pouring PB :)

  22. Thank you so much for this recipe I make my own gronala but would love to figureo ut how to make bars. I tried once and they did not stick well. I just have one question do I have to use the rice cripies I am sure I can leave them out. I am going to have fun mix different ingredients for this recipe.

    • Hi Keisha! You could definitely use a different kind of cereal if you didn’t want to use the rice crispies. It should work fine!

  23. I just made these yesterday- added finely chopped dates & less chocolate. But was disappointed that they broke apart when cut….so guess I’ll add more pb, honey next time…..otherwise very tasty!

    • Hm…strange! Did you chill them before cutting? They definitely stay together better if you keep them cold.

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  29. These look lovely, I just have one question- I’m allergic to nuts, is there any alternative to Peanut butter that I could use? I know it’s the binding ingredient but I washing I could use chocolate or a butter/honey mix. Sorry!!

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