Sunday, August 29, 2010

No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars

So this was my first attempt at homemade granola bars and I wasn’t even really sure what I was going for.  I guess now I know a little bit more clearly what I want and what I don’t want.  These are good.  I mean really, really good but I would almost hesitate to even call them granola bars.  Maybe I would call them peanut butter and oatmeal bars?

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I think next time I would toast the oatmeal with the nuts in the oven for a bit.  Maybe use some crisped rice and less sugar?  Hard to really tell which way I am going to go but I bet the kiddos will love this first try anyway!

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No-bake Nut Butter Energy Bars (adapted from Tosca Reno’s Eat Clean Cookbook)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup orange blossom honey (or agave nectar)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1 Tbsp butter
1-1/2 cup peanut butter (or other nut butter)
3 cups oatmeal
2 scoops chocolate protein powder
1/2 dried cherries (briefly rehydrated in hot water), chopped (can use any dried fruit you like)
1/3 cup slivered almonds
1/2 unsalted sunflower seeds

Directions:

Warm the honey, butter, olive oil, and peanut butter in a saucepan until ingredients are soft enough to combine easily when mixed.  remove from heat.

Add oatmeal and protein powder and mix well  Then, add dried fruits, almonds and seeds.  Mix well.

Press into 9-inch square pan.  Let cool in fridge and cut into squares.

***These are good.  Really, really good but not very diet friendly!  Based on cutting the 9-inch pan into little squares and ending up with about 29 of them it is still 4 WW points.  I think you can eliminate the olive oil and butter and that would help but still didn’t decrease the overall points.  The peanut butter just is too much.  Maybe use less peanut butter and add some whole wheat flour?  Need to play around with this a bit…

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8 comments:

Megan said...

This sounds like a great bar to try for the kiddo's lunch box!

Maria said...

i can't wait to try these!

erin said...

wow these really sound good! i'm always needing a heathy energy boost in the mornings...definitely will try :)

kelly said...

These really sound good. I've wanted to try some myself for quite a while. Love all the whole grains in them. :)

Thistlemoon said...

What a cool idea! They look awesome too!

Best Hamburger Recipe said...

hmmm! looks like so tasty! I'll try to make it soon.

Anonymous said...

I stuck to the original recipe in the Clean Eating book, using 2 tbsp coconut butter instead of the olive oil/butter combination suggested here and vanilla protein powder instead of the suggested chocolate and the bars are amazing. I've made them for many people and get rave reviews every time. Simple, clean, delicious. My thoughts are if its not broken don't fix it.

j said...

Hello,

I have made Tosca Reno no bake nut bars twice and both times the recipe did not turn out. I love the taste but I don't know what I am doing wrong? They completely crumble and fall apart. I am using Almond butter and I add everything in the same amounts. Does anyone know why this is happening?
thanks,
j