Super Fast, Super Easy, No-Bake Breakfast Bars

See all those good-for-you foods!

Greetings, all!  Over the past couple months, I have been collecting pantry staples.  My boyfriend has been planning to move out of his parents home and into a rental property, and I wanted to surprise him with a practical house-warming gift.  Now, the moment has arrived.  He's been slowly moving into his rental home, and tonight will likely be his first night actually staying there.  I was excited to have his housewarming basket there waiting for him, but I realized something.  I didn't have anything in it for breakfast!

My "Welcome to your home" basket, sans breakfast bars.

So, I was really excited to remember having ventured onto this recipe a while ago on Mom on a Mission's blog.  While I was at the store today, I remembered it being simple, quick, and that we had all but one ingredient in the pantry.  I just had to pick up a box of plain ol' Cheerios!  I wandered down the cereal aisle, looked at the name brands, had sticker shock, and ran back to the value cereal area.  How bad can a $1 box of Toasted Oats be?  Fortunately, I was informed they were quite equivalent to the name brand stuff, especially since they were serving as an ingredient in this yummy recipe.

Yum!  Melty chocolate in the middle, crispy O's, chewy oats, sweet raisins, and creamy peanut butter!

Fast and Easy No-Bake Breakfast Bars

1/2 cup of firmly packed brown sugar *
1/2 cup of honey
A small pat of butter, optional
Pinch of salt (eliminate if peanut butter is salted)
1/2 cup all natural, no salt creamy peanut butter
2 cups Cheerio-like cereal
2 cups Old Fashioned Oats

Optional mix-ins/toppings:
1/2 cup or so raisins, nuts, other dried fruit
Some dark chocolate chips/chunks (put on top else they'll just melt)


*You can use a mix of honey and maple syrup, or all honey, if you don't want the brown sugar


In a saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, and small pat of butter if you are concerned about it sticking to the pan.  Stir until the mix comes to a boil.  Remove from heat, stir in the peanut butter and salt until all is dissolved.  Add the optional raisins.  Stir. Then add the oats and Cheerios right into the pan (plan for your pot to hold close to 6 cups of ingredients so you don't have to dirty a bowl).  Fold until decently combined.  Press out onto a greased (I used my Misto to apply a light coating of EVOO) 9 x 13 pan.  Press out evenly.  Top with chocolate (optional) and lightly press into the bars as they start to melt.  Let cool before cutting into breakfast bar shapes.

These measurement make a very thin layer on the bottom of a 9 X 13 pan.  I thought they were too thin, so I sprinkled chocolate chunks on top and folded the thin layer in half, sandwiching the chocolate and pressing the layers together.  This gave a more substantial breakfast bar with a toothy texture reminiscent of a Rice Crispy Treat.  Next time I make these (if he likes them), I'll double the recipe.  Supposedly these freeze well, so if you like them, make a lot and have them on hand in the fridge for those busy mornings or hungry afternoons!

Also, since this recipe goes so fast, I'd recommend measuring everything out ahead of time, or at least have all the ingredients immediately available for measuring.  These took me about 10 minutes to make in all, and then I let them cool a couple hours before cutting.