One of our favorite things to do is decorate for Christmas while enjoying snacks. I’d like to share with you my easy no-bake chewy granola bars recipe. Easily mix up a batch to share after school, during the holidays, or any time you want a quick snack!
This shop has been compensated by Collective Bias, Inc. and its advertiser. All opinions are mine alone. #BIGSeason #BigLots #CollectiveBias
We are blessed to have a trailer on our farm just for guests. This has come in handy when we have family visiting and when the girls have sleepovers. Our home is on the small side, with only one bathroom. With the trailer, the girls can stay up late and be comfortable without disturbing their early-to-bed and early-to-rise parents.
The girls are going to host a sleepover soon and wanted to decorate for the occasion, so the girls and I visited one of our favorite stock up stores, Big Lots, to add some Christmas cheer to the trailer.
We headed directly to the Christmas section and wandered around, trying to decide which of the fun boxes would go home with us. This year, my youngest daughter, Mary, has taken a keen interest in decorating for Christmas. It was so nice to be able to tell her to pick out what she wanted, knowing that the prices were low enough that we could bring home some new decorating items, and still be able to afford to stock up on a few snacks too.
Mary picked out snowflake lights, icicle lights, and a cute light string for the window. We then chose a small tree and decorations to place on the table. With a Christmas tablecloth, the tree looks super cute in the trailer!
After we had our new decorations in the cart, we picked out a few snacks to leave in the trailer for guests. The girls enjoy tea, so we found a couple of new-to-us teas to try. A jar of honey paired with this choice perfectly. The girls both really like Annie’s line of snacks and I’m happy to find them at a great price, so we picked up a bag of their favorite. I grabbed the ingredients for my homemade chewy granola bars before we checked out.
We had fun decorating the trailer and getting it “Christmas ready” and heartily encourage you to visit your Big Lots store. You can stock up on snacks and pick up some cute decorations while you’re there!
No Bake Chewy Granola Bars:
- 2 cups oats
- 3/4 cup puffed rice cereal
- 3/4 cup sunflower kernels
- 1 cup nuts (peanuts, almonds, pecans- your choice)
- 1/2 cup dried fruit (cherries, cranberries, raisins- your choice)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar
- 1/4 cup honey
- 4 TB butter
- 2 ts vanilla extract
- 1/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
- 1 ts coconut oil
- Pre-heat oven to 400*F.
- Spread oats on a baking sheet and toast for about 10 minutes, stirring often to prevent burning.
- Once oats are toasted, set aside and turn off oven.
- Line a 9X13 baking dish with waxed paper. Generously butter or spray with non-stick cooking spray.
- In a small saucepan over medium heat, mix together the brown sugar, honey, and butter. Stir frequently, until butter is melted and brown sugar is dissolved. Stir in vanilla.
- Mix all dry ingredients in a large bowl. Pour the melted sugar mixture over dry ingredients. Mix together well.
- Spread the granola mixture into the waxed paper lined pan. Press it down firmly. Add another sheet of waxed paper to the top and press. Remove this waxed paper sheet and allow to cool completely (about 2 hours.)
- Combine chocolate chips and coconut oil and melt (either in a double boiler or in the microwave).
- Remove granola bar from pan, remove waxed paper from bottom. Cut into bars. Drizzle melted chocolate over bars.
- Store in an air-tight container.
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You had me at “no-bake”! You are SO fortunate to have a place guests can sleep! We have to cram up like sardines in my house when family or guests come to visit. It’s already too small of a house for our family, so having guests is a really tight squeeze! I love that you dressed it all up for the holidays! [client]