Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars

Take pleasure in a nostalgic, family-approved deal with with these No-Bake Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars! Make-ahead pleasant, these crunchy bars take simply 5 substances and style like PB&J because of the freeze-dried fruit combined proper in!

What are the substances in these Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars?

You solely 5 substances to make these unimaginable crunchy Cheerios bars. These substances must be simple to search out, excluding the freeze-dried strawberries. Extra on that under!

Right here’s an inventory of every thing I used on this recipe and a few suggestions for each:

• creamy pure peanut butter – Search for PB with peanuts and salt as the one two substances. You may use a sweetened PB like JIF however the bars might be a bit sweeter than supposed. I want Costco model Pure PB.
• honey – Any type of honey you want ought to work for this recipe. Don’t swap with maple syrup; the bars will go soggy.
• vanilla extract – Including a little bit of vanilla brings some extra taste to the bars, however actually, you would go away this out for those who don’t have any.
• Cheerios – I used plain Cheerios for this recipe, however there’s no cause you couldn’t use Honey Nut! Search for the 8.9 ounce measurement field. That is the precise quantity you want with zero leftovers and no measuring out cups of cereal.
• freeze-dried strawberries – Yow will discover the 1.2 ounce luggage of freeze-dried fruit at Dealer Joe’s, which is what I used. Any type of freeze-dried fruit you’d usually use as a jam (like blueberry or raspberries) would additionally work very well.

Gear you’ll must make this recipe:

For this recipe, I’ve a couple of really helpful objects that may assist make these bars come collectively simply.

• 9×13 measurement casserole dish – The precise model doesn’t actually matter, and we aren’t baking in it, so undoubtedly use no matter you have already got available!
• giant mixing bowl – Once more, the model doesn’t matter, however you do want a comparatively giant mixing bowl, most likely the biggest one you might have. I’ve this 8-Piece Pyrex Sculptured Mixing Bowl Set (affiliate hyperlink!) and the biggest one is pictured on this put up.
• one thing laborious to press bars – For those who don’t simply need to use your palms, I like to recommend a metallic water bottle or one thing with a flat backside that you need to use to press the bars down.

How do you make these Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars?

These Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars are simple to make so long as you’re in a position to put in a little bit little bit of arm energy to press them collectively. Actually, it’s kinda enjoyable!!

Begin by combining the moist substances. In a big mixing bowl, mix the peanut butter, honey and vanilla extract till fully clean. In case your honey or PB is especially thick, be at liberty to mix them in a small saucepan and warmth over medium low. Stir continuously till warmed and mixed.

As soon as the moist substances are clean, add the Cheerios to the bowl. Subsequent, take the bag of freeze-dried strawberries and crush the underside half of the bag. You need to create some crumbs whereas leaving a few of the items bigger. I’ve discovered that freeze-dried fruit could be like garlic: smaller items = extra taste added.

Open the bag and reserve about 1/4 cup of entire items for the highest, then dump the remainder of the freeze-dried strawberries into the bowl. Use a big spoon to combine every thing collectively till all of the Cheerios and strawberries are coated within the PB honey combination.

Subsequent, line a 9×13 casserole dish with parchment paper, utilizing chip clips on the edges of the dish to safe the paper. You’ll be able to see how I’ve clipped the paper within the photograph above! Pour the coated cereal combination into the dish and unfold it out into a good layer.

Take one other piece of parchment paper, place it excessive of the cereal and use your fingers or one other laborious flat floor to press the combination firmly into the pan. You need to hear the Cheerios crunching! This course of can take a pair minutes, so be affected person. You need a good flat layer.

Take a break from urgent and place the reserved freeze-dried strawberries on prime, then proceed to press every thing down. Pay particular consideration to the edges and press them down together with your fingertips.

After the combination if firmly pressed into the pan, go away the highest parchment paper on as a canopy and put the pan within the fridge so the bars can chill for at the least 1 hour earlier than slicing. This may harden them a bit and assist them stick collectively. As soon as chilled, switch the entire thing from the dish to a slicing board and use a pointy knife to reduce into 15 bars.

Finest suggestions for making these Cheerios Bars:

Listed here are my finest suggestions for making these Cheerios bars in your individual kitchen:

• Press the bars as laborious as you possibly can! You need to hear some crunching. This helps them keep fully collectively once you reduce them and eat them.
• Let the bars chill earlier than slicing. This helps them agency up and keep collectively once you reduce them.
• Use the most important bowl you might have for mixing. Appears like a dumb tip, however it can enable you to combine every thing up very well if in case you have a big bowl. And all of it must be effectively combined in an effort to stick collectively.

Methods to customise these Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars:

Listed here are a few methods to customise these Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars and make them your individual:

• Swap the dried fruit. Dealer Joe’s sells a couple of totally different freeze-dried fruits, and I believe most of them would work effectively on this recipe (blueberries and raspberries sound good too!)
• Use a distinct nut butter. I haven’t examined it, however I do suppose these bars could be scrumptious with almond butter or cashew butter as effectively.
• Strive a distinct type of Cheerios. They make all totally different sorts lately, and also you don’t have to stay to plain for those who don’t need to. I guess this might be scrumptious with the strawberry banana Cheerios!

Methods to meal prep this recipe:

To prep forward, merely make the recipe as directed and retailer in an hermetic container with lid within the fridge for as much as 5 days. Refrigeration is just not required, however it helps maintain the bars stable. You too can wrap every tightly and retailer within the freezer for as much as 3 months for very best quality.

The way to retailer Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars:

Retailer leftover bars lined within the fridge for as much as 5 days for very best quality. They don’t must be refrigerated however they may maintain collectively higher if chilled.

The way to freeze Strawberry Peanut Butter Cheerios Bars:

To freeze, wrap every bar tightly in plastic wrap or a mix or parchment paper and foil. Retailer within the freezer for as much as 3 months for very best quality.