August 6, 2015 | 67 Comments

Refrigerator Peanut Butter & Milk Granola Bars

Yum

Not too long ago, Kraft came out with these wonderful refrigerated granola bars called Milk Bite. Of course, I fell in love with them. Of course, they were discontinued. I’ve longed for them for all this time and finally decided to come up with my own version – this is it!

These bars are no bake, stored in the refrigerator, filling, and tender. What’s more, they’re actually healthy. Well, for now. I mean, give it a week or so and someone is going to decide oats are unhealthy, it’s only a matter of time :). The ingredients are as simple as they can be and the bulk of the “cooking” process involves stirring and patting into a pan. They make an excellent breakfast or a quick energy snack in between meals and since they aren’t “too sweet” they are perfect for school mornings when you want your kid to be well fed but not bouncing off the walls :).

In short, I love them and I made a huge batch at a fraction of what I used to pay for the store bought version. The options with this are limitless, really. If you have any peanut butter allergies, use sun butter. Add in dried fruit, nuts, coconut, whatever you like to personalize them. You can follow my recipe to the letter or use it as a springboard for something entirely different.

This was supposed to be the post where I continued my family series and told you a story about a member of my family. I shared about Katy earlier in the week on my Brunswick Chicken Bake post and today was Brady’s post. Well y’all, Brady’s story is a bit more complicated with more twists and turns so I’m not done writing it yet. I hope to share it in my next post but I just couldn’t wait another day to share this recipe with you! Let’s get to it so I can get me another bite of one of these bars!

You’ll need: Oats, Evaporated Milk (can use regular), Peanut Butter, Honey, and Vanilla. My Vanilla was not in the mood for photographs today and we mustn’t pressure our ingredients when they wake up on the wrong side of the pantry.

On my finished product, I melted some white chocolate chips and drizzled that over in addition to sprinkling a little bit of coarse sea salt on top of the chocolate before it set. It was a wonderful touch.

Place all of your ingredients (except oats) in a large bowl and microwave for a minute or two until the peanut butter is good and melty and can be easily stirred together with all the other ingredients. You can do this in a pot on top of the stove if that makes things more right in your world.

Stir that together until smooth. Add oats. Stir until very well coated.

Press into an 8×8 pan. Cover and refrigerate until chilled.

If you want to make a pretty topping like I did, melt chocolate chips (flavor of your choice) in the microwave at 30 second intervals, stirring after each, until melted and smooth. Allow to cool for a few minutes and then spoon into a zipper seal bag. Snip a corner off and squeeze in a zig zag (or zag zig, depending on your level of rebelliousness) pattern on top of the bars. Sprinkle lightly with coarse sea or kosher salt.

Cut into bars and store in an airtight container or bag in the refrigerator for up to two weeks or freeze for up to three months (or until you remember they are there and decide to eat them).

I LOVE HAVING THESE IN MY FRIDGE and you will, too!