Chocolate Cereal Breakfast Bars

With Chef John's cereal breakfast bars recipe, make your own chewy energy/granola bars with not-too-sweet chocolate flavor and hints of coconut and almond.

• Preparation Time: 15 mins
• Cooking Time: 30 mins
• Total Time: 45 mins
• Calories: 264 Calories

Ingredients

• 3 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1 tablespoon water
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon kosher salt
• tiny pinch cayenne pepper
• 0.5 cup maple syrup
• 1.5 cups rolled oats
• 0.5 cup chopped raw almonds
• 1 cup puffed brown rice cereal
• 0.33 cup shredded coconut
• 0.33 cup packed brown sugar

Recipe Instructions

Step 1

Serve and enjoy!

Step 2

Gather all your ingredients. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Grease an 8x8 pan with butter; line with parchment paper.

Step 3

Combine rolled oats, puffed brown rice cereal, almonds, coconut, cocoa powder, salt, and cayenne pepper in a bowl.

Step 4

Combine maple syrup, brown sugar, vegetable oil, and water in a small saucepan; bring to a simmer over medium-high heat. Stir; boil mixture for 1 minute.

Step 5

Pour maple syrup mixture over oats mixture; mix thoroughly.

Step 6

Transfer oats mixture to the prepared pan; smooth top, pressing lightly with a spatula.

Step 7

Bake in the preheated oven for 25 minutes. Score into 8 bars while still hot using a spatula.

Step 8

Cool to room temperature before breaking into bars. (You can also not score, and simply cool, then cut with a knife.)