Sweet after school treat!

Its back to school time, that means lots of schedules to keep straight! But there are always a few minutes when the peanuts come home from school to relax and hear all about their fun day and what new and exciting things they learned. And what's better than a sweet conversation accompanied by a little treat!?!
Although, granola bars are great there is a lot of 'junk' in them that we don't need out kids eating and homemade cereal or granola bars are a cinch to make! These little homemade cereal bars are the perfect after school {or lunch box} snack and are cute as can be when they are wrapped up like a piece of candy and of course personalized with your child's name!

{This recipe is adapted and changed slightly from Martha Stewart's chocolate-peanut butter cereal bars}

Cooking spray

8 cups chocolate crisp puffed-rice cereal

1/2 stick unsalted butter

10 ounces miniature marshmallows (4 3/4 cups)

3/4 cup natural peanut butter

1/4 teaspoon fine salt

1 cup semisweet chocolate chips

1/4 cup fine colored sprinkles plus a few more for the top

{we added 1T of flax meal for fiber, you can add oats to make it more of a granola bar as well. Just take out about 1 cup of cereal and add 1/2 cup of rolled oats} 

Coat a 9-inch square baking pan with cooking spray and line with parchment. Lightly spray parchment. Place cereal in a large bowl. In a large pot, melt butter over medium. Add marshmallows, peanut butter and salt and cook, stirring, until mixture is melted, about 3 minutes. Remove from heat and stir into cereal until combined. Let mixture cool slightly, 4 minutes (mixture should still be pliable), then stir in chocolate chips and sprinkles. With a spatula (or your fingers) lightly coated with cooking spray, press into pan. Sprinkle top with a few more sprinkles. Let stand at room temperature until set, about 20 minutes. Using parchment, lift from pan and cut into 12 bars.

After they are cut you can wrap each one individually with wax paper and tie the ends with ribbon to create a candy look. You can also use our sweet glittery tags to personalize them! What kid would not love to open their lunch box to find one of these in there!