| I was under strict orders to bring both cookies and energy bars with me on my visit to see Dan at McMaster University this past weekend. Digging through various recipes I’ve prepared was a great opportunity to “tweak” some existing recipes. Tweaking is usually a necessity if a particular item is out of stock. Tweaking this time, however, was motivated by my desire to sneak in some hemp seeds and get rid of some puffed millet cereal (don’t we always want to get rid of puffed millet?). Now, I’m not sure if Robb was really, really hungry, or trying to cushion his emotional bank account, but he actually preferred this version over the original.
Anyway, it’s super quick and can easily be altered to accommodate nut-free environments. Simply substituting a seed butter such as sunflower or pumpkin for a nut butter will make this bar suitable for school and other environments where nut allergies need to be considered.
2 cups oatmeal or quinoa flakes
2 cups cereal (I used 1 cup of Gorilla Munch and 1 cup of puffed millet)
1 scoop protein powder (I used Sun Warrior Vanilla Warrior Blend)
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1 cup natural peanut butter (or use seed butter)
1 cup raw honey
3 tablespoons hemp seeds
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
Mix oatmeal, cereal, protein powder and salt in medium size bowl. Set aside. Gently warm peanut butter and honey in a saucepan over low heat until blended well. Be careful not to overheat, as peanut butter burns easily, and you want to prevent the healthy enzymes in the honey from breaking down. Pour mixture over dry ingredients and blend well. Press into 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 parchment-lined baking pan. Press hemp seeds and chocolate chips over mixture (or simply add in with dry ingredients before adding to peanut butter mixture). Chill in fridge for 15 minutes. Remove from fridge and cut into bars. Wrap bars individually and store in fridge or freezer. |
