Special CEREAL Bars

I think I first had these at some R.S. doing many, MANY years ago, but they remind me most of our daughter Paula and the 'maker/baker' she is when visiting here, or the other way around. ♥

Heat until mixture begins to boil:
1 cup light corn syrup (Karo)  I like the corn syrup that is NOT the "high fructose" variety.
1 cup white granulated sugar

Remove from heat, and stir in:
1 and 1/2 cups chunky peanut butter (I like the 'natural' kind)
2 teaspoons vanilla

Add the above mixture to:
6 cups of Rice Krispie (or Special K) cereal, and stir carefully so as NOT to break the cereal into "crumbs".

Pat this into a buttered 9x13" pan.  Cool. 
Enjoy them 'as is', or top with the following:

CHOCOLATE 'FROSTING' (optional):
Melt together 1/2 bag of semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips and 1/2 bag of butterscotch chips.  Mix well and spread onto bars.  Let chocolate frosting cool/harden BEFORE cutting.

Whole Wheat, Flax, Oat Groats, Pumpkin Muffins

I like these!

As usual, I had to mess around with the original recipe a little bit.  Why?  Because.  Good enough reason?   Maybe not.  Okay,... later on, I'll explain the changes I made and tell why. 

Below:  I penned in some

of the changes I made...

 I increased the amount of spices and vanilla mainly 

because I upped the amount of pumpkin I used.

I don't drink coffee, but, I bought and used a small 

$20.00 electric coffee grinder for grinding the 

flax seed AND the oat groats.  It only grinds about 3 

tablespoons at a time, but it's so quick 

and it does a PERFECT job!

Quantity:  24

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 and 1/2 cups whole wheat flour.
• 3/4 cup ground flax seed (this is the amount AFTER grinding).
• 3/4 cup ground oat groats (this is the amount AFTER grinding). The original recipe asked for 3/4 c. oat bran, but mine was gone.
• 1 cup brown sugar, packed (I used dark brown).
• 2 teaspoons baking soda.
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (I prefer the aluminum-free kind).
• 1 and 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon.
• 3 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice.
• 1 of 15-oz. can of canned pumpkin  (I almost doubled the original amount by using the whole can, because I didn't want to have 1/2 can of pumpkin left over).
• 3/4 cup whole milk (original recipe asked for skim milk).
• 1/2 cup unsweetened applesauce.
• 2 large eggs, slightly beaten.
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract.
• 1 cup chopped pecans.

DIRECTIONS:

1. Preheat oven to 400-degrees (F)
2. Set cupcake liners into two muffin pans (12 holes each).
3. Very lightly spray the inside of the liners.  Set aside.
4. In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, ground flax seed, ground oat groats, brown sugar, baking soda, baking powder, salt, cinnamon, and pumpkin pie spice.
5. In a separate bowl combine the pumpkin, milk, applesauce, eggs, and vanilla.  Whisk together until well combined.
6. Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ingredients and fold together with a rubber/silicone-type spatula until just smoothly mixed.  (Once the flour mixture is introduced, you don't want to over-mix this!)
7. Gently stir in the chopped pecans
8. Fill each sprayed liner about 2/3 full (I like to use a cookie scooper for this-- it makes each the same size, and it's less messy.)
9. Put into the oven at 400-degrees for only 5 minutes.  Then, lower the temperature to 350-degrees and bake for another 15 minutes-- check for doneness with a toothpick at about 12 minutes after the heat is reduced.   If it has "dough" on it, bake for another couple of minutes-- re-check after each 2 minutes.  (With my oven, these muffins were done after the stated time of 5 + 15 minutes.)

Recipe adapted from:  Alaina at http://fabtasticeats.com/2013/10/24/whole-wheat-flax-bran-pumpkin-muffins/