Cran-Mac Caramel Bars

Thu, 03/04/2010 - 15:34 — Sarah

Summary

Yield	Servings
Prep time	15 minutes

Description

Sweet sticky bars for the trail.

Ingredients

12	oz	box cereal of choice
1⁄2	c	dried sweetened cranberries
1⁄2	c	chopped macadamia nuts
1	c	honey
1	c	white sugar
1	T	molasses
1	t	pure vanilla extract
1	c	natural peanut butter

Notes

Notes:
This recipe was featured in the March/April 2010 issue of Washington Trails magazine on page 35. http://www.wta.org/trail-news/magazine

For the cereal choose a type with texture, flakes and crunchies work well. It doesn't need to be a sweet cereal as the caramel base is sweet enough on its own. If you have a favorite high protein/fiber cereal, by all means use it. Look for a 12 to 13 ounce box preferably.

And of course you can swap in your favorite nuts and dried fruits!

For the peanut butter crunchy is the best.

Instructions

At home:
Spray a 9x13 baking pan with cooking spray or butter it. Set aside.

In a large and tall saucepan heat the honey, sugar and molasses till it comes to a full boil. Take it off the heat and quickly stir in the peanut butter and then the vanilla. Mix in the cereal, cranberries and nuts with a wooden or silicone spoon till fully coated.

Dump into the pan and spread out, then pack in tightly. Let cool for at least an hour to set up. Cut into portions and tightly wrap in plastic wrap.

These bars carry well in a pack and do not fall apart as they are dense and nicely sticky.

Makes one tray (bars depend on your concept of a "serving").

Average:

Your rating: None

Login or register to post comments
Export to:
HTML
PDF-3x5

Comments

Sat, 07/21/2012 - 18:35 — TonyC

Sometimes Organic Isn't the way to go. . .

On an 8 day trip a few years back, I was horrified to find that my healthy organic tortilla's were moldy on day four. Since then, I've gravitated to the "normal commercial" products for longer trips, yes products with preservatives, and guess what, They're preserved for a long trip.

If one used "unnatural" peanut butter, gack, aka Skippy type peanut butter, with a NOT organic cereal, you could probably go way beyond 4 days. . . Consume your organic breads in the first few days, the preservative laced stuff can go much longer.

Sun, 06/27/2010 - 14:45 — dipink