Yogurt Cereal Bars

Last week I found a recipe for yogurt cereal bars. It looked easy enough, and didn't require a lot of weird ingredients, so I decided to give it a try. Just in case they turned out to be yummy (and they did), I took pictures of the whole process so I could share them with you guys! Aren't I considerate? :)



For the crust, you will need flour, butter (or margarine), brown sugar, corn flakes and cinnamon.




In a medium sized mixing bowl, combine 2 cups of corn flakes, 3/4 cup of flour, 1/4 cup of brown sugar, and 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon. (You wont need to do anything serious here. I just stirred it around with a fork. And feel free to mash the corn flakes so there aren't a lot of huge chunks.)




Once that is combined, cut in 1/2 cup of butter (or margarine) until coarse crumbs start to form.




After you finish cutting the butter in, press half of the mixture into the bottom of a (greased) 8 inch square pan. Make sure to firmly press the mixture in. You need to show this sucker who is boss.




Ok, after you have the "crust" in the pan, start on your filling. You will need flour, flavored yogurt (I prefer organic) and one egg.




In a separate mixing bowl, stir together one egg, 2 tablespoons of flour and 1 cup of yogurt. I choose strawberry yogurt, but you can also do peach, banana, blueberry... whatever you prefer. Just make sure it is nice and fruity!




Poor the yogurt mixture on top of your firmly pressed crust (yes, I am stressing the firmly pressed crust for a reason) and spread it out nice and evenly. Isn't it pretty? I think so. I love me some strawberry flavored food!




Ok, now take the other half of your cereal mixture and sprinkle the rest of it on top of the yogurt. There should be just enough to cover all of the yogurt. Pop it into your oven (that is preheated to 350) for 30 minutes or until golden brown.

I'm not going to lie, the smell that fills your kitchen will be very deceiving. It doesn't smell like you are cooking anything that is remotely close to being healthy. My husband walked in and I am pretty sure he was expecting to find cookies in the oven.




Mmmmm. See how nice and golden brown it is? This is when its ready to be taken out of the oven. It took just about 30 minutes. Probably a few minutes more, but it was close.




My only beef with the recipe was I didn't feel there was enough crust. See how the crust on the bottom was very thin? I think next time I may try make a wee bit more. But I will have to try and see if I can successfully do that without messing up the recipe too badly. :)




Let them cool for a while. You want the pan to no longer be hot to the touch. Then when the are cooled, cut into bars! I froze about half of them so they wouldn't spoil in the fridge, but I think you are good with keeping them in an airtight container for about 5 days.

These are GREAT for kids. Z eats one almost every day. He LOVES them. And you can make them even healthier by adding some wheat germ or flax seed to the yogurt mixture!


Here is the recipe without all of my ramblings and pictures. Enjoy!



YOGURT CEREAL BARS

2 cups corn flakes
3/4 flour
1/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/2cup butter or margarine
1 cup flavored yogurt (banana/strawberry etc..)
1 egg slightly beaten
2 tablespoons flour

Preheat oven to 350F


Combine cereal, 3/4 cup flour, sugar and cinnamon in a small bowl.
Cut in butter or margarine until coarse crumbs form.
Press half of the mixture firmly into the bottom of a greased 8inch square pan.
Mix yogurt, egg and 2 tablespoons flour in another small bowl.
Spread over cereal mixture in pan and then sprinkle the remaining cereal mixture on top
Bake for 30 minutes or until golden brown; cut into bars when cooled.