A few months ago I was making tons of granola and eating it all myself. It was so tempting! I couldn't pass the pantry without sneaking a handful -- not just once, but over and over during the course of the day. Granola is not exactly a low cal snack, so to curb the habit, I finished it all up and then bought a lower fat and less tempting cereal called Kashi Go-Lean which advertises it has “as much protein as an egg”. The first few servings were okay, but about ⅔ of the way into it, I found that the rest of the cereal was crushed.
Crushed cereal is a pet peeve, so to get rid of it I turned to an old recipe called Sports Bars and made some adjustments. Instead of puffed cereal, I used Kashi Go-Lean and I eliminated the chopped dates, raisins and cinnamon. Once they were completely cool, the bars had a chewy texture and great flavor. The Go-Lean was an okay substitute for the puffed whole grain cereal, but the puffed whole grain is less dense and makes a slightly better bar. If you want to see what the bars look like when made with the puffed whole grain cereal, here's a link to a 2005 Sports Bar post by Joe. It's hard to believe we've been making these bars for 7 years.
UPDATE: I will be posting a new and improved version soon. The old version called for corn syrup and I wanted to make it a little more wholesome.
Katrina says
I have a pet peeve about crushed cereal, too and would have made something with them, too. The bars look great.
Anna says
Carol, unfortunately you do have to turn on the oven for a few minutes for these....that's why they're "almost" no-bake. I've tried recipes for granola bars that you don't bake at all and haven't been quite as happy with them.
Carol says
I love the idea of no bake granola bars. Especially now when it is so hot and I don't want to turn on the oven.