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First Day of School Made Easier with No Bake Cereal Bars

18 Comments
cereal bars to prep ahead

No-Bake Cereal Bars!  We are proudly sponsored by General Mills to share the improvements they’ve made to our favorite cereals!

cereal bars 1

I’ve always been that kid that loved the first day of school! I loved the new clothes, the new teachers, and meeting new kids! As a mom, I still get to recreate  some of that excitement for my kids. The kids look forward to a fresh start and an opportunity to make good first impressions on their new teachers. We have fun the weeks leading up to school getting ready. We get new backpacks, school supplies, lunch supplies, and we even pre-make some breakfasts to make the first day of school perfect!

In all the excitement of the first day of school, it’s nice to not have to worry about making breakfast. When our breakfast is prepped and ready for us to eat the kids have no excuses to walk out the door without a hearty meal. I love that there are no kitchen messes to clean up when we’re trying to leave. We don’t want to skip breakfast! 

cereal bars you can prep ahead
First Day of School Made Easier with No Bake Cereal Bars
  •  Breakfast eaters have more energy
  •  Breakfast eaters can focus better 1
  •  Kids who eat breakfast are more likely to choose healthier foods throughout the day 2
  •  Breakfast eaters have better moods 3

We have become really good the last few years about meal prepping our dinners once a week. We also choose a few breakfast items that we also prep ahead. Having our breakfast prepped and ready to eat ensures that the kids always go to school with a full tummy, even on the days they sleep too long. The breakfast items we prep most often include

  •  Frozen waffles
  •  and cereal bars

These cereal bars have a great mix of protein and fat from the almonds, and whole grain oats from the cereal.

For our cereal bars, we mix a variety of dry ingredients, totaling about 4 cups. We break it up into

  •  Dry Cereal (usually Cheerios)
  •  Nuts (almonds for this one)
  •  and coconut!

Then, as a binder, we boil maple syrup and almond extract. The longer you boil, the crunchier your bars will be. We usually aim for 8-10 minutes. Then, we pour the boiled mix onto our dry ingredients, mix, and form into an 8X8 pan. Then, we put it in the fridge until breakfast! Super easy, on the go, and probably the yummiest cereal bars you will ever have!

Make these cereal bars on the weekend. Double the batch, and have them ready to go for your kids first day of school!

  •  3 cups Original Cheerios
  •  1/2 cup almonds
  •  1/2 cup coconut
  •  1 cup maple syrup
  •  1 teaspoon almond extract
  •  1 tablespoon coconut oil

Combine Cheerios, almonds and coconut in a bowl. In a saucepan, combine maple syrup, almond extract and coconut oil. Bring to a boil, and continue for 9-10 minutes. Pour over cereal mixture and mix thoroughly.  Spread into an 8X8 pan, lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Chill in the fridge until cereal bars get crunchy.

This recipe is finicky! There is a point of sugar boiling that goes from chewy to crunchy, to crumbly.  Getting the right texture might take practice.  If this recipe is a fail as a bar, it’s still SUPER YUMMY as a snack mix!

steps for making cereal bars

We love our partnership with General Mills, and are so excited by the changes they’ve made to make our favorite cereals even better for kids. Did you know today, more than 90 percent of General Mills cereal recipes do not have artificial flavors or colors from artificial sources.  Cinnamon Toast Crunch uses real cinnamon, Cocoa Puffs & Reese’s Puffs use real cocoa, and Honey Nut Cheerios uses real honey for flavor.  For color, Trix and Fruity Cheerios use extract from blueberries, purple carrots, and turmeric.

We are proudly sponsored by General Mills to share the improvements they’ve made to our favorite cereals!

  1. http://journals.cambridge.org/download.php?file=%2FPHN%2FPHN19_09%2FS1368980015002669a.pdf&code=c5358ec17de0d562a467b20ce538f628
  2. http://munews.missouri.edu/news-releases/2014/1015- eating-breakfast- increases-brain- chemical-involved- in-regulating-food- intake-and- cravings-mu- researchers-find/
  3. http://dujs.dartmouth.edu/2011/02/you-are- what-you- eat-how- food-affects- your-mood/#.V183s_krKUk
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4.2 from 5 votes

First Day of School Made Easier with No Bake Cereal Bars

Prep Time20 minutes
Cook Time0 minutes
Course: Breakfast
Cuisine: American
Servings: 8 servings
Calories: 260kcal

Ingredients

Instructions

  • Combine Cheerios, almonds and coconut in a bowl. In a saucepan, combine maple syrup, almond extract and coconut oil. Bring to a boil, and continue on a boil 8- 10 minutes.  Pour over cereal mixture and mix thoroughly. Spread into an 8X8 pan, lined with parchment paper or wax paper. Chill in the fridge until cereal bars get crunchy.

Notes

  • This recipe is finicky! There is a point of sugar boiling that goes from chewy to crunchy, to crumbly.  Getting the right texture might take practice.  If this recipe is a fail as a bar, it’s still SUPER YUMMY as a snack mix!

Nutrition

Calories: 260kcal | Carbohydrates: 38g | Protein: 5g | Fat: 11g | Sodium: 58mg | Fiber: 3g | Sugar: 25g
Keyword : cereal bars, cheerios, dairy free, no bake

www.superhealthykids.com

Natalie Monson

I'm a registered dietitian, mom of 4, avid lover of food and strong promoter of healthy habits. Here you will find lots of delicious recipes full of fruits and veggies, tips for getting your kids to eat better and become intuitive eaters and lots of resources for feeding your family.

Learn More about Natalie

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18 Comments

What could you substitute if you can’t have coconut? The oil is a solid at room temperature and that makes it popular as a binder, but what else is there?

I’m guessing I didn’t let my syrup boil long enough because these didn’t turn out well for me- which stinks because I doubled the recipe too! They are unable to be cut into bars because they Don’t stay together at all and the whole bottom is wet with syrup. Way too much liquid- I let it boil for 10 minutes, but I guess it should have gone longer 🙁

Brittany- I’ve tried this a few more times since reading your comment, and not really sure what to change. The interesting thing about my experimenting was there was a tipping point where the syrup, if boiled too long, turned to a powder, right in the pot! So, 10 minutes was perfect for me each time, where it kept the bars crunchy, before it turned crumbly. To really make this fool-proof I’m going to have to grab myself a thermometer to find out what the perfect temp and boiling time is. Sorry it didn’t work out for you! I think I’ll add a note that says- turn into trail mix if bars won’t stick together!

I can see these being great for morning or after school snack. Nuts of any kind are not permitted at school. I have access to peanut-free almonds which is great for my little guy 🙂

Brittany, I had the same results as you. I followed the directions exactIy and boiled the syrup mixture for a full 10 mins. When I pulled them out to cut they were all syrupy at the bottom. The Cheerios were not crunchy. Just syrupy tasting. So sad. They could only be spooned out. :(. Sad to waste all those good ingredients. I don’t know where I went wrong.

Do you boil on high for the full 10 mins or turn it down and do a slow boil? My maple syrup turned into a black goop that tasted awful 🙁

Delicious! I didn’t even want to wait until they chilled to eat them! I love that I can also put my almond extract to good use 😉

i had no problem with the crunch, but a real hard time getting them off the wax paper. Finally, I shaved it off with a knife!
Question: Is there a way to make them less sweet? (Disclosure, I had to use Agave and Maple sirup 1:1, not sure if that made it sweeter)

Brittany, I had the same results as you. I followed the directions exactIy and boiled the syrup mixture for a full 10 mins. When I pulled them out to cut they were all syrupy at the bottom. The Cheerios were not crunchy. Just syrupy tasting. So sad. They could only be spooned out. :(. Sad to waste all those good ingredients. I don’t know where I went wrong.

I boiled for 10 minutes but bars were way too syrupy and gooey. I was hoping to be able to have “bars”- portable, yummy, hand food. Had to throw it out. Sooooo disappointed!! Maybe if I boiled even longer???

Do you use *pure* maple syrup or the “fake” stuff? I want to try this but want to use the right one! After reading the comments I’m wondering if this is what makes the difference. Thanks!