No-Bake Chocolate Chip Granola Bars

First off I must say that I'm a granola bar aficionado. I love them. I don't remember ever not liking them. So, long story short- I was sure that home made ones would not only taste better, but would not be filled with preservatives, and hard to pronounce additives.. Here's a recipe I found off of Pinterest.
Luckily with having baked all sorts of goodies for the holidays, I had all of the ingredients on hand! How amazing is that!
Okay, here we go:

What you'll need:

1/4 cup butter
1/4 cup honey
1/3 cup packed brown sugar
2 cups quick cooking oats (not rolled oats)
1 cup crispy rice cereal
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 tbsp mini chocolate chips

Directions:

In a large bowl, stir oats and rice cereal together. Set aside.

In a small pot, melt butter, honey and brown sugar together over medium high heat until it comes to a bubble. Reduce heat and cook 2 minutes.

Pour in vanilla and stir.

Pour in dry ingredients and mix well to moisten all ingredients.

Pour in a lightly greased pan and press out. (if adding chocolate chips, sprinkle them on top and press down lightly). 

(I also added peppermint kiss shavings to mine)

Cool on counter top to room temperature for two hours or until the chocolate chips are set before cutting in to bars. 

Wrap in parchment or plastic wrap and store at room temperature.

(I cut these a little prematurely so I could show a picture)

Notes: If your granola bars don't seem to be staying together when you cut them, you mayhave made them too thin or you didn't pack them in tight enough. Stick them in the fridge for 20 minutes and that should help keep them together- but be sure not to keep them in the fridge for too long or they'll be rock hard!

A personal suggestion:
These taste great. They're chewy deliciousness. However, in my opinion they have a strong brown sugar and vanilla taste- so I think I'm going to use less of the brown sugar and probably no vanilla next time.