Homemade Chocolate Chip Granola Bites (or bars!)

We eat a lot of granola bars and other fitness bars in our home - so while browsing Pinterest on the way to work one morning, I came across a few recipes to make your own granola bars and thought to myself, "why not?!" We had all of the ingredients that we needed except for the honey and Rice Krispies, so it was an extremely cheap snack! I originally had planned to make granola bars but ended up making them into bites instead (much easier!) Here is the version that I found to be quick and easy. Hope that you enjoy!

Ingredients:

- 1/4 cup coconut oil or unsalted butter

- 1/3 cup light-brown sugar

- 1/4 cup honey

- 1/8 tsp salt

- 1/8 tsp vanilla extract

- 2 cups quick oats

- 1 1/4 cups Rice Krispies cereal

- 3 tbsp chocolate chips

Directions:

• Add coconut oil or unsalted butter, brown sugar and honey to a microwave safe bowl and heat the mixture in the microwave on high power for 1 minute. 
• Remove from heat and stir, then return to the microwave and heat on high power again (1 minute if using coconut oil and 1.5 minutes if using butter).
• Carefully remove from the microwave and blend in vanilla.
• Add in the quick oats and stir until evenly coated.
• Fold in the Rice Krispies and toss well to evenly coat.
• If making bars, firmly press the mixture into one side of a buttered baking sheet then sprinkle tops with chocolate chips and press into bars. If making bites, add in the chocolate chips and roll the mixture into small 1-inch balls, placing them on a baking sheet. 
• Transfer the baking sheet to the refrigerator and chill for 10 minutes.
• Remove from the refrigerator and if making bars, cut into desired-size bars (should make approx. 9 granola bars). If you made bites, you are ready to enjoy!