I spent yesterday doing some baking. Â Our daughter Kalissa is having a birthday bash tonight and I thought I’d make some goodies. Â My son Buck who lives 2 hours away happened to call while I was baking. Â He asked what I was up to so I told him I made and frosted 3 cakes, a pan of Revel Bars, taco meat and a pan of Cheerio bars….He said, “Oh mom. Â Save me some Cheerio Bars or better yet, make an extra pan of them.”
Then he proceeded to tell me that I make the best been Cheerio Bars. Â He’s had other people’s Cheerio Bars but mine are the best. Â Then he said that Cheerio Bars are one of the things he misses most about living at home….
WHAT? Â Cheerio Bars!! Â I make homemade bread, homemade donuts, Â homemade cinnamon rolls, pies, cookies, cakes, bars and cook almost everything from scratch. Â My children ate very little mac and cheese, frozen pizza and never any hamburger helper and the thing he missed most was Cheerio Bars?! Â WOW!!
Then Kalissa came home and said, “Oh mom…you made Cheerio Bars.” Â Then she gave me the HUGEST hug….Cheerio Bars? Â Really?
Cheerio bars used to be a very regular snack around here when I did childcare. Â The kids all loved them. Â I made them because they were a treat and being they were made from cereal, I tried to tell myself they were a healthier option than cookies….So here’s the secret recipe……(honestly there isn’t anything secret about it)
Put one 16 ounces bag of marshmallows and one stick of margarine in a microwave safe bowl.  Microwave it for 2 minutes.  Watch that the marshmallows don’t puff out and come over the edge of the bowl.  Stir.  Add 1 cup of peanut butter.  Creamy is preferred but crunchy will work too.  Microwave for about 1.5 minutes.  Take out and stir.  Stir until the mix is smooth with not lumps and the marshmallows are all melted.  You may need to microwave it a bit longer depending on the wattage on your microwave.  Add about 11 ounces of cereal…(this is a guess number.  I know I used just a little less than a 12 ounce box of Cheerios)  Stir.  Put it all in a 9 x 13 pan that has been greased.  Let sit a bit and WA-LA….you have Cheerio bars.
Now for the secret…I usually use generic Cheerios. Â In the photo above I happened to use multi-grain Cheerios. Â I’ve used honey nut cheerios too.
After the comments from the kids…I am hiding the Cheerio bars until tonight or there won’t be any left!…yes, apparently I missed Cheerio bars too.  That smidgen out of the corner was me…in my defense, I was trying to figure out why the kids think they are so great…now I remember.
Check out more sweets at Sweet as Sugar Cookies.
Cheerio bars…hmmm…never tried those…my kids are grown but now I have grandkids. Thanks for the idea!
I haven’t made them with peanut butter before- sounds delicious!! And I happen to have a huge open box of Cheerios on the shelf that keeps getting ignored! I bet it will be a big hit here!! Thanks, Jo!!
Don’t remember ever having cheerios bars. I did notice the empty space in the corner…figured it was your DH! Sandi
No way!? I’ve never heard of those before but I will have to print that out and make some – thank you so much for sharing!
I bet Zach would LOVE these…I am going to try them with the (very icky tasting by the way) GF cheerio substitute. Great way to spruce them up! I am always looking for recipes that would work GF too (and that Z will EAT!) Happy Birthday to Kalissa! :)
Hmmmmm…………..have never had Cheerio bars, only Rice Krispie bars.
I’ve never heard of these but I’m going to give them a try! We love rice crispy treats and cheerios so why not try them together. Thanks :-)
Sounds like a fun party. Yummy treats. Have fun.
SewCalGal
http://www.sewcalgal.blogspot.com
that si so funny! isn’t it amazing what they tell us they remember most about their childhoods and favorite foods!
of course now I am going to have to try these never heard of cheerio bars,
yes rice krispie bars , not with cheerios!
thanks
Kathie
Thanks for the recipe, I’ve got to try them. I’ve made the rice krispy treats, but not these and my kids love cheerios! Thanks and Happy Mother’s Day!
How easy is this! My son would love them.
I’d like to invite you to share this recipe on my weekly link-up, Sweet Tooth Friday. I hope to see you there. http://alli-n-son.com/2011/05/05/homemade-coffee-creamer/
I made the cherio bars just now. Just from licking the spatula and my fingers they are going to be good! Thanks for the recipe.
Hello, this is Katie from the Cheerios Facebook team. We love your story about your family’s great memories that are evoked when you make Cheerios bars! We like it so much we want to share it with our fans on Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/Cheerios
Do we have permission to share a link to your post with our 490k+ fans? If so, please let me know by either responding in this comment thread or emailing me directly. Either way, I really enjoyed reading your post.
Thanks, Katie
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we actually prefer these. years ago i had a recipe that also included instant butterscotch pudding mix. I misplaced the recipe and have never been able to replace it
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I Never use margarine, can I substitute butter?
I use butter too. I used margarine back in the days when the kids were all still home and I watched the budget more carefully.
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Sounds interesting, but they wouldn’t work at my house. My crew likes peanut butter, but nothing MADE WITH peanut butter. Weird, huh?!
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