When I was young, we didn’t have many options when it comes to dessert or snacks. I remember one of the popular options is the crispy rice squares. This was usually made by popping the rice first, heating sugar into syrup, then mixing the ingredients together, waiting for them to cool down, then cutting them into smaller squares. It’s crunchy and sweet, although certainly not the healthiest snack.

When I saw the whole grain cereal the other day I thought I could make something similar to the crispy rice snacks. This cereal bar is convenient to make. You can eat it as breakfast if you’re in a hurry or have it as snack in the afternoon. You don’t need an oven, just a stove and saucepan. So this could be ideal if you’re just a beginner cook. Trust me, it tastes pretty good! One thing though, it’s a little big on the calories, so don’t eat too much at one go!

Kitchen Gadgets: Saucepan

Makes: 10 bars

Ingredients

• 2 tbsp (30ml) raw sugar or white sugar
• ¼ cup (60ml) light syrup
• ¼ cup (60ml) water
• ¾ cup (180ml) crunchy peanut butter
• 3 cups (750ml) whole grain rice and wheat cereal (or just any whole grain cereal that you like!)
• 1/2 cup (125ml) coconut flakes (add more if needed)

Instructions

1. Add sugar and water into the saucepan, heat it until it melts, try to swirl the pan to melt it, don’t stir too much.
2. Add syrup to the mixture.
3. Add peanut butter to the mixture and mix well.
4. Stir in cereal and coconut flakes, mix until it’s well coated. Depends on the brand of your peanut butter, sometimes it might be a bit watery, you can try adding a bit more coconut flakes to make the batter slightly thicker.
5. Scoop the batter into silicone molds and press them down tightly. If you don’t have molds, you can line a square cake pan with baking paper, press the batter into the pan evenly and tightly, then cut into small squares later. Alternatively, you can also drop them like you make drop cookies as small chunks on a baking sheet.
6. Cool the bars overnight in the fridge.
7. After cooling the bar shall be set and retain its shape. Now it's ready to be served!