I’ve made a couple of batches of energy bars – a lot cheaper than buying them, and you can make them to your tastes.
Most recipes I found use dates as a base. When the proportions are right they actually stay together really well, even in road jersey pockets (up to a point). Really need a food processor for the dates though. I got fed up of hand chopping them!
Not sure if this will work, but here’s the recipes I found from various websites:
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3 cups of uncooked oatmeal (Quaker Oats)
• 1 cup of dried mixed fruit, chocolate chips, fruit bits, or favorite ingredient
• 3/4 cup of brown sugar or molasses
• 1 cup honey
• 8 ounces of non fat vanilla yogurt
• 1 cup of apple sauce
• 2 egg whites, lightly beaten
• 2 tablespoons of skim milk
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
Combine the ingredients in a large bowl and mix thoroughly. Spread out in a lightly greased baking pan and bake
@ 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 28-30 minutes. Enjoy!
Tip: You can adjust the sugar content of the recipe to reflect how you want to use the bars.
Example: For a post ride or race carbohydrate replacement bar, use glucose (high GI) as the primary sugar instead of
honey, brown sugar, and molasses. For a recovery bar add some protein powder in a 1:4 ratio to sugars/carbohydrate.
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I’m also a fan of Lara Bars, and recently tried to mimic their “Ginger Snap” flavoured one. I used the following:
1 cup dates
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup pecans
ground ginger, cinnamon and cloves to taste
I ground them all up in a food processor, but rather than forming bars,
I rolled the mixture into 1″ balls. It worked quite well. I have plans to try to mimic the apple pie one too, but haven’t yet.
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Debbie’s Oat-Date Bars – Recipe
INGREDIENTS (all organic)
2 cups chopped and pitted dates
1 cup apple juice
1 teaspoon grated fresh ginger
2 cups old-fashioned rolled oats
1/2 cup oat flour
1/8-1/4 cup each sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chopped pecans, ground flax seeds
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup honey
1/2 cup safflower or other light oil (I use organic coconut oil)
1. In a saucepan, combine dates, apple juice, and ginger. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring occasionally, until dates are very soft. Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2. Preheat oven to 350F. In a large bowl, combine oats, flour, nuts and seeds, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
3. In a smaller bowl, combine honey and oil. Using a sieve, thoroughly drain the liquid from the cooked dates into the honey-oil mixture, stirring well to combine. In a separate bowl, mash dates until smooth.
4. Combine oat and honey mixtures, stirring to mix thoroughly.
5. Press two-thirds of this dough into a 9 x 9-inch cake pan. Spread mashed date filling over this, then gently and evenly pat remaining crumb mixture on top.
4. Bake 30 – 35 minutes or until lightly browned.
Makes about 24 bars.
Helpful Hints
Baked goods made with honey tend to brown quickly, so be sure to keep an eye on these so they don‘t overcook!
My in a hurry short cut option is to mash dates, pecans and hemp seeds together in blobs. Yum!
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POWER BARS
1 ½ C Rolled Oats (I used quick rolled oats)
1 C Rice Crispies
¼ C Sesame Seeds
1 ½ C Dried Apricots
1 ½ C Craisins (dried cranberries)
½ C Wheat Germ
1 C Light Corn syrup
½ C Sugar
½ C Peanut Butter
½ tsp Vanilla
½ tsp Cinnamon
#1 Heat oven to 350?. Put oats, cereal, sesame seeds on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes (turn as needed).
#2 Mix wheat germ, craisins, and apricots. Add baked mixture of oats, seeds, crispies and mix all together.
#3 On stove, bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil. Turn down heat to low and add peanut butter, vanilla, and cinnamon. Pour into mixture of fruits and cereals.
Spray cooking spray onto 9 X 13 pan and spoon mixture into it. Let it set up and cut into pieces.
This makes a big batch so I put the pieces into baggies and freeze for future use.
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Ginger Pear Energy Bars
A refreshing, crisp-tasting bar with lots of nutrients and ginger to help fight inflammation and improve digestion
1 small pear, cored
¾ cup fresh or soaked dried dates
½ cup sunflower seeds
¼ cup ground flaxseed
¼ cup hemp flour
¼ cup walnuts
2 tbsp of grated fresh ginger
Sea salt to taste
2 tbsp sesame seeds
Mix all ingredients in foods processor except sesame seeds. Cover mixture in sesame seeds before shaping into balls or bars.
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http://www.whole-body-detox-diet.com/homemade-energy-bars.html
Directions:
Put the dates into a food processor and blend into a coarse, chunky paste.
Add the nuts and blend until coarse – you should still see nut pieces.
Transfer to a bowl and mix in the shredded coconut and cacao powder.
Take a handful of the mix and press it very tightly in your palm, squeeze it together in a ball until it sticks, then begin to form it into a 2 inch roll.
Press the roll onto a baking sheet and form into a bar. Lightly dropping it onto the sheet and turning will help to form a flat surface on each side of the bar. Press the ends gently with the palms of your hands.
If you choose, roll the bar in coconut to keep them from sticking together when stacked. Or simply cover with plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator until ready to pop into a lunch box, purse or back pack!
Makes 6 bars
You can use the basic ratio of 1 cup of unsweetened dried fruit (dates, raisins, apricots, cherries, etc.) to ¾ cup of nuts or seeds (almonds, walnuts, pecans, pistachios, cashews, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds) to create your own flavor base.
When using fresh fruit, like kiwis and bananas, increase the ratio of nuts to dried fruit making it 1 cup to 1 cup. These bars are stickier, so put them in a “warm” oven for 1 hour to dry them.
For the following recipes, use the basic directions given above for the Chocolate Coconut homemade energy bars
Cinnamon Raisin Bars
3/4 cup dates, pitted, whole 100g
¼ cup raisins 35g
½ cup almonds 110g
¼ cup cashews
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Ginger Spice Bars
1 cup dates, pitted, whole 150g
1/2 cup raw almonds 100g
¼ cup raw pecans 50g
1 teaspoon ground ginger
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
