No-Bake Super-Chewy Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oat Bars

Chewy oatmeal bars are one of my favorite go-to travel snack foods, especially when faced with budget airlines that don't feed you for free and also don't want you to bring your own stash. Regardless, I try to pop something sort of healthy and hearty (and easy to scarf down on the sly) in my bag before I hop on the plane. I've tried twice to make the chewy variety of these bars at home, but gave up. Nothing worked to get them significantly chewy while staying together. I have come to terms with the fact that using all from-scratch ingredients will simply not get you that really chewy texture that you expect. Wanna know the secret to seriously chewy oatmeal bars? Marshmallow. Peanuts and chocolate add a great final touch.

Notes: The peanut butter and peanuts can be omitted. Replace the nuts with anything of your liking such as crispy rice cereal, coconut, or sunflower seeds. The mixture is cooled before adding the chocolate chips so that they don't melt. The chips may not want to stick into the mixture, however, so just press them in when pressing the mixture into the pan.

Ingredients:

• 3 1/2 cups (11 ounces) quick cooking oats
• 2 tablespoons (1 ounce) unsalted butter
• 28 each (7 ounces) marshmallows
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/2 cup chopped peanuts
• 3 tablespoons creamy peanut butter
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips