HOMEMADE ENERGY BARS

This week, I offer you recipes for making energy bars at home with healthful ingredients.

Oftentimes, when we’re hungry or running out the door, we grab something to nosh on the way. Nowadays, there’s a plethora of choices to choose from at grocery and convenience stores. They come in a variety of shapes and sizes, and contain lots of grains and seeds; some are covered with chocolate, and others are sugar-free.

The one thing all of these products have in common is the word “healthy,” which is always printed in big letters on the packaging. Granted, many of them do include some healthful ingredients, but if you read the small print, you’ll see that most of the empty calories in these treats come from the multiple artificial and processed ingredients.

Anyone who reads my column regularly knows that I prefer to prepare easy-to-make foods at home, rather than buying unhealthy, store-bought treats, as enticing as they may look in their fancy plastic wrappers.

This week, I’ve decided to teach you how to make your own energy bars by roasting seeds and nuts, mixing them with dried fruits and then baking them in the oven. All that’s left to do is to slice them up and enjoy. That’s the whole story.

In other words, every single one of you can make these energy bars by following the easy recipes below.

By investing a few short minutes, you can have a healthful energy bar waiting for you to grab every day.

Changing it up, you can swap any kinds of nuts and fruits in the recipes below according to your preferences. You can use coconut oil instead of butter, honey instead of sugar, agave syrup or silan. You can use sweetened or unsweetened cranberries, add chia or poppy seeds, goji berries, or sugar-free chocolate chips. In short, the combinations are endless.

GRANOLA ENERGY BARS

Use a 22 cm. x 22 cm. pan or 24 cm. x 24 cm. pan.

Makes 12-14 bars.

270 gr. oats

140 gr. whole or sliced peeled almonds 40 gr. peanuts

¼ cup pumpkin or sunflower seeds ½ cup cranberries

3 Tbsp. coconut flakes

¼ tsp. salt

1 tsp. ginger or cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

100 gr. honey, agave or maple syrup 2 Tbsp. packed brown sugar

80 gr. butter or coconut oil Baking paper

Chocolate icing:

100 gr.-150 gr. bittersweet chocolate, depending on how thick you want icing to be 1 tsp. oil or glucose syrup

Add the oats, almonds, peanuts, pumpkin seeds, cranberries, coconut flakes and salt to a large bowl and mix well.

In a pot, add the honey or agave syrup, brown sugar and butter. Melt over a low flame until completely mixed. Pour over the seeds and mix well. Transfer to a pan lined with baking paper and flatten well.

Bake in an oven that has been heated to 180º for 2530 minutes until the bars have slightly browned and then let them cool down in the pan.

Place the chocolate in a glass bowl and add the oil. Melt in the microwave a few seconds at a time until it’s smooth. Pour the chocolate over the bars and smooth with a spatula. Let it cool.

Taking hold of the baking paper, lift the cooked bars out of the pan and place on a cutting board. Let them cool for 5 minutes and then cut into squares or rectangles.

Level of difficulty: Easy. Time: 60 minutes. Status: Dairy or parve.

1. You can purchase cocoa butter in specialty bake shops. 2. Add chocolate chips, chia or sunflower seeds to alter texture and flavor.