Homemade Cereal Bars

My kids love to eat the boxed cereal bars. Even the organic ones have things I can say, let alone spell. So I search and came up with my own. My kids love them.

• Ready In: 1 hr 10 mins
• Serves: 16-24

Ingredients

• Crust

• 1  cup butter, softened
• 2  cups oats, ground
• 2  cups flour (I used whole wheat because its what I had)
• 1  cup brown sugar
• 1  teaspoon vanilla
• 1⁄2 cup unsweetened applesauce

• Filling

• 1 1⁄2 cups  fruit, of choice (Frozen or Fresh)
• 1 1⁄4 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2  teaspoons sugar

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350.
2. FILLING:
3. Heat fruit in a saucepan over med-low heat, stirring occasionally.
4. Cook until the fruit begins to cook down and thicken, about 15 minutes.
5. If the fruit is to chancy, put in a blender to puree for a few pluses then put back into the pan.
6. Whisk in cornstarch and cook 5 more minutes.
7. Taste fruit and if it is too sour add 1 teaspoon of sugar until it is to taste.
8. Put fruit into a heat safe bowl and into the fridge until cool. About 20-30 minutes.
9. You can make the fruit up to 2 days prior to using.
10. CRUST:
11. Cream butter, sugar, vanilla and applesauce
12. Add to flour and mix throughly.
13. Place dough onto plastic wrap and form into a brick. Cut in half and wrap each in plastic wrap and chill in fridge for 20-30 minutes.
14. Roll out half of the dough and transfer onto a parchment paper lined cookie sheet. To make it eaiser on myself, I rolled the dough out between 2 peices of parchment paper.
15. Spread fruit onto dough.
16. Roll out 2nd half and place on top. Press down the sides to seal them. Use an egg wash if you want to help keep sides sealed.
17. Trim the edges if you want it pretty. :).
18. Bake for 25-35 minutes or until lightly browned.
19. Take out of pan and cool completely on cooling rack.
20. Cut bars into desired size.
21. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days. Use parchment paper between layers.
22. Freeze remaining bars in freezer safe container or bag. Let thaw overnight in fridge.