Peanut Butter and Jelly Granola Bars

These bars are nice soft granola bars, that still keep their shape and shouldn't fall apart on you. I sent my friends on the road with a big bag of these after they stayed at my place on a cross-country road trip.

Servings per recipe: 28

Dry Ingredients:
2 tbsp olive or other oil for tinfoil
4 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1 cup quinoa
1 cup TVP
2 cup unsweetened puffed corn (or crispy rice cereal)
1 cup roasted salted peanuts
1 cup wheat bran (can sub for wheat germ, flax seed, or chia seed)
Optional: 3/4 cup dried currants, raisins, blueberries, or other dried fruit

Wet Ingredients:
3/4 cup fruit jelly or preserves of your choice (I used grape)
1/2 cup brown rice syrup (I used IMO syrup)
3/4 cup sugar (or other granulated sweetener such as Stevia)
1 tsp salt
1/2 cup natural peanut butter
1 tbsp vanilla
Optional: 1/2 cup powdered peanut butter such and Protein Plus Peanut Flour for additional protein and peanut butter flavor

Preheat oven to 325F, and line a baking sheet with edges with tinfoil and grease tinfoil thoroughly with oil.

In a large bowl, mix together dry ingredients and dry fruit, if using. Set aside.

In a small saucepan, combine all wet ingredients besides vanilla, peanut butter and peanut powder. Melt sugar slowly over medium-low heat, stirring until everything is well mixed and sweetener or sugar is dissolved, about 10 minuted. Take pan off the heat. Gently whisk in peanut butter, vanilla, and peanut butter powder to the saucepan until no more clumps of peanut butter powder remain, and peanut butter is thoroughly dissolved.

Pour peanut butter and jelly mixture over dry ingredients and mix very thoroughly with a rubber spatula. Pour into the baking sheet, and spread evenly to all edges of the baking sheet. Using the rubber spatula, press down very firmly to compact the granola bars. How firmly and  thoroughly you press the granola bars down will result in granola bars that stick together better.

Bake for 25-35 minutes, or until the granola bars just start to look toasty around the edges, and feel firmer to the touch. Don't overbake, or you could burn the dried fruit. Let cool completely in the baking sheet.

Once cool, carefully slide the foil onto a large cutting board. Cut the baking sheet of granola bars in half with a sharp knife, and then cut each half in half again. Move three of these aside, and cut each quarter into 7 bars. They should be about the size of a traditional granola bar. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 weeks.

Nutrition is for 1/28 of recipe made with puffed corn cereal, wheat bran, grape jelly, IMO syrup, and 1/2 cup Protein Plus Peanut Flour (does not include dried fruit)

Nutrition Facts
Servings 28.0
Amount Per Serving
calories 259
% Daily Value *
Total Fat 11 g	17 %
Saturated Fat 2 g	8 %
Monounsaturated Fat 2 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 1 g
Trans Fat 0 g
Cholesterol 0 mg	0 %
Sodium 191 mg	8 %
Potassium 184 mg	5 %
Total Carbohydrate 46 g	15 %
Dietary Fiber 9 g	35 %
Sugars 24 g
Protein 10 g	20 %
Vitamin A	0 %
Vitamin C	0 %
Calcium	2 %
Iron	11 %
* The Percent Daily Values are based on a 2,000 calorie diet, so your values may change depending on your calorie needs. The values here may not be 100% accurate because the recipes have not been professionally evaluated nor have they been evaluated by the U.S. FDA.