Quick Peanut Butter Bars

Need a quick snack? These delicious peanut butter bars are the "healthy" version of no-bake cookies. They use no refined/processed sugar, yet they taste amazingly indulgent. They came together in only about 5 minutes prep time. The hardest part is allowing them to cool for about 30 minutes after whipping them up. They were a big hit with my whole family - adults and kids alike.  

Ingredients

• 1 cup peanut butter
•  3/4 cup honey - I used agave and honey to fill up to 3/4 cup
• 2 cups uncooked rolled oats 
• 1/2 cup dried cranberries or any dried fruit of your choice - I used 1/4 cup raisins and 1/4 cup Craisins
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds or other seeds or nuts of your choice - I used 1/4 cup whole almonds and 1/4 cup chopped walnuts

Directions

• Warm peanut butter and honey in frying pan until ingredients are mixed and runny.
• Stir in the oats, dried fruit, and nuts/seeds until everything is nicely blended together.  
• Pour mixture into 9x9 pan. Use a spatula to press it evenly into the pan.
• Let the mixture cool for 30 minutes to an hour, then cut into 15 bars of equal size.
• The bars do not need to be refrigerated.  Just wrap them in aluminum foil. Grab one whenever you need a quick snack!

I got this recipe from a fun book called "Artful Snacks" that I found at our local library.  It was exciting to see my picky three year old get excited about snacks and how fun and healthy they can be. It also has fun health tips and facts that we found interesting.  I would definitely recommend this book to anyone with young kids.