Sweet Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

There are few culinary pleasures in this world like enjoying a heaping spoonful of peanut butter while standing in your kitchen. Not much can match it – except for the 2nd spoonful. 

Given my ’druthers, I’d joyfully work peanut butter into most every dish – noodle recipes, salad dressings, tofu dishes, chocolate desserts – and serve it on every occasion. But Hubby, ever so rightfully, cautions me against it in big crowd situations. Lots of folks are allergic to peanuts, so we lose the peanut butter unless we know for a fact that everyone present can eat it. Can’t be too careful about that.

So entertaining with peanut butter is somewhat of a lost art these days, but if there are no in-house peanut allergies you’re safe to indulge at home. This is the perfect, crispy, homemade Sweet Peanut Butter Cereal Bar recipe for your kids (and you!) 

You probably have all of the ingredients on hand, assuming you stock Chex and Honey Nut Cheerios. Ok, maybe you’ll need to make a special trip to the store for the sunflower seeds, but in my opinion, they’re worth it. Their mild nutty taste and soft texture go a long way. And you’ll need honey (a great compliment to peanut butter) but who doesn’t have plenty of that around? You’ll also need brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla and of course –the glue that holds it all together – the hero of our cereal bars… smooth, creamy peanut butter. And I won’t tell if you help yourself to a spoonful or two while you’re preparing this.

Sweet Peanut Butter Cereal Bars

Prep Time 10 minutes mins

Cook Time 5 minutes mins

Total Time 15 minutes mins

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Servings

8 Servings

1x2x3x

Ingredients

• 4 cup Chex® cereal
• 2 cup Honey Nut Cheerios®
• ⅔  cup sunflower seeds
• 1 cup honey
• ⅔  cup brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½  teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 cup creamy peanut butter

Instructions

• Lightly spray an 8×8-inch baking pan with cooking spray.
• Place Chex in a sealable plastic bag and crush slightly with a rolling pin or by hand. In a large bowl combine crushed Chex, Cheerios and sunflower seeds.
• In 3-quart saucepan, over medium-high heat, heat honey, sugar, cinnamon and vanilla just to boiling, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat and stir in peanut butter. Pour over cereal mixture and stir gently until evenly coated.
• Press mixture into prepared baking pan. Refrigerate 1 hour or until set. Cut into 8 bars. Store covered at room temperature for up to 1 week.