Healthy Granola

Inspired by Kate at work, I decided I'd try to whip up my own personalized granola bars.  A few things to note: 

1. These are no-bake bars
2. There MUST be a "sticky" ingredient... which I lacked the first run!

What you'll need:

• 1 1/2 Cups Whole Wheat Oats- Red Mill has a great bag of these
• 3/4 Cups Brown Rice Cereal
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Unsalted Peanuts
• 1/2 Cup Ground Flax Seed
• 1/2 Cup Chopped Almonds
• 2 Cups Dried Fruit- I used a mixture of Blueberry Infused and Pomagranite Ocean Spray Dried Cranberries 
• 1/2 Cup Unsweetened Organic Coconut
• 2 TBSP Maple Syrup
• 1 1/2 Cup Sun Butter (or natural organic peanut butter)
• 3 TBSP Almond Butter
• 3/4 Cup Brown Rice Syrup (I didn't have this the first time)

Mix all the dry ingredients together in a large mixing bowl.  In a medium sauce pan, heat the Brown Rice Syrup and the Butters... Only cook until warm and evenly combined.  Be sure not to boil or simmer.

Mix the butter mixture into the dry ingredients and pat into a 13 x 9 baking dish.  Let sit for about an hour- until the butter mixture has cooled.

The purpose of the Brown Rice Syrup is to make everything stick together- when I made these without the Brown Rice Syrup, it crumbled and flaked very easily and made a perfect "cereal snack".  Don't use Corn Syrup as that will take away from the healthiness of these delicious treats!  You can add some miniature chocolate chips if you like to make a bit sweeter, however, with the coconut and the sun butter / almond butter they come out quite sweet!

Enjoy!