Oatmeal Bars

I found this recipe at Allrecipes and thought it sounded like a nice alternative to the granola bars I send in my daughter's lunch a lot. Until I actually read the recipe and found it's got tons of butter in it. Don't get me wrong....I puffy heart butter big time. But I don't particularly want to pack a stick of butter in dd's lunch every day. There were some suggestions of eliminating part of the butter and replacing it with baby food bananas (eww). Maybe applesauce would be better.

Here's the original recipe:

4 1/2 cups rolled oats 1 cup all-purpose flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 2/3 cup butter, softened 1/2 cup honey 1/3 cup packed brown sugar 2 cups miniature semisweet chocolate chips (or mixture of choc chips, nuts, dried fruit, whatever blows your skirt up) Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Lightly grease one 9x13 inch pan. In a large mixing bowl combine the oats, flour, baking soda, vanilla, butter or margarine, honey and brown sugar. Stir in the 2 cups assorted chocolate chips, raisins, nuts etc. Lightly press mixture into the prepared pan. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 18 to 22 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool for 10 minutes then cut into bars. Let bars cool completely in pan before removing or serving.

I put slivered almonds, mini chocolate chips and dried cranberries in mine, although the right side of the pan is sans the cranberries for the girl. I think my son will like them.

They didn't really hold together great, so I don't know if they're gonna work for lunch box purposes. But they are really yummy, not as dry as store bought granola bars. A commenter at Allrecipes suggested freezing them before slicing them to help them not fall apart. I'm really not that patient though. I think I'll try putting some rice krispies in there next time too.