Take-a-Break bars are also easy to make. To keep the heavish bits of fruit and nuts from sinking to the bottom, first combine them with the dry ingredients. Then just beat the eggs with the sugar and peanut butter and a little vanilla and stir in the flour mixture. After only 20 to 25 minutes in the oven, you can cut the bars. Be careful, because the pan will still be hot.

Options
The picture shows the bars made with mixed dried fruits. But, there are many different kinds of dried fruits you can choose to be sure your snack bars have a taste that you like. You can use all one kind of dried fruit or several dried fruits all mixed together. If you don’t want to cut the fruits yourself, buy the kind that is already chopped. If you already have on hand dried fruit that isn’t chopped, take out kitchen scissors and fill a drinking glass with water. Cut the fruit with the scissors. If the scissors get sticky, dip them in the water and cut some more.

You can also use any nuts you like – peanuts to match the peanut butter or another kind. And, you can use regular or chunk-style peanut butter – whichever one you have on hand.

Brown sugar is regular granulated white sugar with molasses in it. The molasses in the sugar makes it soft and adds a special taste. Light brown sugar has a lighter taste and dark brown sugar tastes more like molasses. To get an accurate measurement of brown sugar, pack it into a measuring cup with a spoon. If you like, you can substitute granulated white sugar, but not granulated brown sugar or liquid brown sugar.

The bars are fine to eat any time of day, even breakfast. When they’ve cooled off from baking, wrap any bars that you don’t eat right away in plastic wrap. You can take the wrapped bars along to eat with your lunch or save them for an after-school or evening snack. If you won’t be eating all the bars within the next couple of days, freeze them.

Hint
When you make Take-a-Break Bars, talk about choosing good snacks. Snacks are fine as long as they help you get enough servings of the foods that are good for you to eat. Foods that have mostly fats and sugars – such as candy, soda pop and fried sweet foods like doughnuts – often give you only extra calories that you probably don’t need. Instead, choose snacks from the other food groups of the Food Guide Pyramid.

Pick one food alone or put two or more foods together. For example, you can make a mini pizza by spreading pizza sauce on a toasted English muffin half, a tortilla or a piece of pita bread. Top it with a scrambled egg and, if you like, some shredded cheese. Here are some other foods you might want to pick for a good snack:

Take-a-Break-Bars Makes 12 bars
	•	1/2 cup all-purpose flour
	•	1/2 teaspoon baking powder
	•	1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
	•	1/4 teaspoon salt
	•	1 1/2 cups chopped dried fruits
	•	2/3 cup oatmeal
	•	1/3 cup chopped nuts
	•	6 eggs
	•	2/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
	•	1/2 cup peanut butter
	•	1 teaspoon vanilla

In medium bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, cinnamon and salt. Stir in fruit, oatmeal and nuts. Set aside.

In large bowl, beat together eggs, sugar, peanut butter and vanilla until smooth. Stir in reserved flour mixture. Pour into greased 11 x 7 x 1/2-inch baking pan.

Bake in preheated 350° F oven until cake tester inserted near center comes out clean, about 20 to 25 minutes. Cut into 12 bars. Remove from pan and cool on wire rack.