Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bites

Before Teddy started Kindergarten a few weeks ago, I was told that he needed to bring a snack, along with a lunch, each day. He is the ultimate creature of habit and the pickiest eater, so his lunches are almost always the same items on repeat. I wanted to find a few fun recipes that I could make each week for his school snacks to change that part up a bit, but they had to be things that he would actually eat. Naturally, I looked for a lot of recipes that included peanut butter and/or chocolate chips. I do energy bites quite a bit. Those are a favorite around here and I try to keep a batch in the fridge or freezer at all times. But, I wanted to expand his horizons a bit, so I checked Pinterest for inspiration. 

 Last week, I made delicious peanut butter pretzel chocolate chip granola bars and we all loved them. I ate way too many. The only issue I had was they were hard to fit into the square container that we use for his school snack and they broke apart easily when eating, which Teddy gets spazzy about (picky eater!!!). I decided to try my own spin on the recipe, since we all loved it so much and make them into ball form. I figured they would be easier for him to eat and they would fit better into his square snack containers and I was right. I waited all day for him to come home and taste test them and I got a big thumbs up and he said he loved them, so I figured I needed to share the recipe with you! 

Peanut Butter Pretzel Chocolate Chip Granola Bites:

Adapted from this recipe

1/4 cup unsalted butter
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup creamy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups oats
1/2 cup crispy rice cereal
3/4 cup chopped pretzels
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips or regular chocolate chips
2 tablespoons Chia Seeds

In a sauce pan, heat the butter, brown sugar, honey, and peanut butter on medium-low heat. Be sure to stir occasionally so that the mixture doesn’t burn. Once it’s all mixed together, turn off heat and add the vanilla.

In a separate bowl, mix the oats, crispy rice cereal, chopped pretzels and chia seeds together.

Pour the hot mixture into the bowl of dry mixture and mix until it’s well coated. Add the chocolate chips…they will melt. You can let it cool if you don’t want the chips to melt. The melted chocolate made the bites a brown color and it made them seem like they had more chocolate in them and Teddy thought he was eating a ball of chocolate goodness with some other stuff mixed in. 🙂 So I am all about the melting over here.

 Place bowl in fridge for at least 30 minutes to an hour. If you are impatient like me, you can put it in the freezer for about 20 minutes. Once the mixture is cooled, it will be easier to form into the bites. The mixture might be a tad dry…just put a little water on your hands while you make the bites. You can make the balls as small or as large as you’d like.

It’s as simple as that! You have a fun little snack for you and your whole fam bam!

Store them in a sealed container or bag in the fridge and enjoy!!!

Also!!!

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