99. Peanut Butter and Jam Oatmeal Bars

From 2007 Southern Living Annual Recipes

What's better than a peanut butter and jelly sandwich? Well, throw in some oatmeal and yellow cake mix...and you've raised the bar on a classic.

These are perfect for breakfast, snack or dessert...and they're easy to make. They're a little crumbly (a lot of the topping fell off when I was cutting them into bars). And, I think I may double the peanut butter and jam mixture next time to really make that flavor more pronounced.

1  (18.25-oz.) package yellow cake mix

2 1/2  cups  uncooked quick-cooking oats

3/4  cup  butter, melted

1/2  cup  creamy peanut butter

1/2  cup  strawberry preserves

1/2  cup  chopped roasted peanuts

Line bottom and sides of a 13- x 9-inch pan with aluminum foil, allowing 2 to 3 inches to extend over sides; lightly grease foil.

Stir together cake mix and oats in a large bowl. Stir in butter with a fork until mixture is crumbly and dry ingredients are moistened. Press half of oat mixture evenly onto bottom of prepared pan.

Stir together peanut butter and preserves in a medium bowl. Gently spread peanut butter mixture evenly over oat mixture in pan. Sprinkle peanuts and remaining half of oat mixture evenly over peanut butter mixture.

Bake at 375° for 30 minutes or until top is golden brown. Let cool in pan on a wire rack 1 hour or until completely cool.

Lift baked bars from pan, using foil sides as handles. Place on a cutting board, and cut into 24 bars.

44. Cranberry-Cinnamon Granola Bars

From 2003 Southern Living Annual Recipes

My favorite 3:00 snack is a granola/protein/energy bar, and I've tried them ALL. So, I thought I'd make my own to compare.

When I looked at the recipe, I was a little worried that these would be really dry, considering that there's very little liquid holding them together. But, they were chewy and particularly "rich tasting" to be low-fat. The cranberries gave great little burst of tartness.

The recipe calls for these to be cut into nine bars (really, more like squares). Each bar has 139 calories, 2 grams of fat, 3 grams of protein, and 2 grams of fiber.

2 cups low-fat granola cereal
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup sweetened dried cranberries
1 large egg, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Vegetable cooking spray


Combine first 6 ingredients, and press mixture evenly into an 8-inch square baking pan coated with cooking spray.


Bake at 350° for 15 minutes or until golden. Cool in pan on a wire rack 5 minutes, and cut into bars. Store in an airtight container.