Perfect Homemade Peanut Butter and Other Good Stuff Granola Bars

In our house, we love granola bars as a quick and convenient snack.  Hubby takes them to work, I use them as energy boosts when I'm on the go (which seems to be most of the time!), and Mini Muffin enjoys them as an occasional treat.  I've been trying to find a delicious, simple and relatively healthy recipe for a homemade version.  It's harder than you might think!  Some were too heavy, some too sweet, and don't get me started on problems getting some of them to bind...

The closest recipe to 'just right' that I've found is from Super Healthy Kids (here: http://www.superhealthykids.com/peanut-butter-chocolate-trail-mix-granola-bars/).  I really enjoyed them as they were, but thought they could be even better.  So, using it as a guideline, I incorporated my favourite aspects of all the other recipes to create my own "perfect", simple, no-bake recipe.  I hope you enjoy it!

Perfect Homemade Peanut Butter and Other Good Stuff Granola Bars 
 
Ingredients
 
1 1/2 cups rolled oats
2/3 cup roughly chopped raw almonds
2/3 cup Rice Krispies cereal
1/3 cup ground flax seed
1 1/2 cups "other good stuff"
1 cup natural peanut butter
1/2 cup honey
pinch of salt

Directions

1.  Line a 8x8 (or similar) pan with parchment paper.
2.  Combine all dry ingredients in a large bowl. "Other Good Stuff" includes things like sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, nuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, etc.  I used 1/4 cup each of sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, mini chocolate chips and craisins, as well as 1/2 cup raisins.  By mixing it up, and using what you have on hand, these bars can be different every time.  Try a few salted nuts to get a sweet and salty combo, or banana chips with coconut to give a tropical flare.  Your imagination (and the contents of your pantry) are the limit!
3.  Warm peanut butter until it pours easily (~45 seconds in my microwave), then stir in honey and salt.  If you want to reduce the amount of honey, just compensate with peanut butter so there's still enough moisture to bind the bars.
4.  Mix wet and dry ingredients; I found using my hands was most effective.  
5.  Transfer to parchment lined pan.  Using another piece of parchment paper firmly press down into an even and well compacted layer.
6.  Refrigerate and cut into bars when well chilled.  Store covered in refrigerator. 

The final step, of course, is to enjoy them.  Mini Muffin's verdict? "There's chocolate in there... more treat, please!".