These are a great option for lunch boxes or an after school snack as they provide an instant energy boost and as they are packed with blood-sugar balancing protein from the nuts and seed, fibre and a useful energy boost from the dried fruit. As they do not contain any refined sugar eating these will help to avoid the energy slump that comes from so many treats.
As well as being high in protein, the nuts and seeds are rich in beneficial fats, important for brain and skin health. Roasting them really brings out their flavour. The dried fruit brings plenty of natural sweetness and is also full of fibre to help support healthy digestion.
Easy Energy Granola Bars
Serves: 20
Ingredients
- 60g Hazelnuts
- 60g Almonds
- 40g Sunflower seeds
- 40g Sesame seeds
- 40g Pumpkin seeds
- 80g Dried apricots
- 80g Figs
- 120g Oats
- 120g Smooth Peanut Butter
- 120g Honey
- 120g pitted Dates
- 30 ml (2 tbsp) water
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 200C.
- Firstly, place your dates in a small bowl and cover with the water. Place in the microwave for 1 minute to soften. (If you don’t have a microwave you can do this in a saucepan).
- Then puree the dates with a hand blender or using the back of a wooden spoon to squash down to a paste.
- Place your nuts and seeds in a bowl or plastic food bag and bash with a rolling pin to break them down slightly. Mix in your oats and then pour this all into a roasting tin and roast for 10-15 minutes until the nuts have browned and the oats lightly toasted.
- Chop up your figs and apricots.
- In a saucepan add your honey, peanut butter and dates and stir all together until a soft paste.
- Mix everything together.
- Turn out into a roasting tray lined with non-stick baking parchment until a few centimetres deep and place in the fridge to firm up.
- Cut into small squares and enjoy.
Notes
TIP: When a recipe calls for toasted nuts try to do extra and keep them for another time. They can be used to jazz up food with their delicious crunchy texture and provide a fantastic protein boost - for example, sprinkle roasted almond flakes over a curry, add creamy cashew nuts to a stir-fry or pine nuts tossed over a cake. Alternatively you can buy great pre-roasted nut and seed mixes (opt for the unsalted varieties) from most supermarkets which can transform a salad or blanched greens. Don’t underestimate how much children like seeds and nuts; they love the crunchy texture and make a great snack to have on the go.
Hi I’m new to your site and am going to make these at the weekend. I was wondering if I could add in a smudge of chocolate instead of some of the dried fruit and if I did would I need to tweak any of the measurements? I don’t want to waste such a lot of expensive ingredients. White or dark chocolate?
Hi there Claire,
I haven’t tried this recipe with chocolate. Personally I would defiantly use dark over white. My only hesitation would be that when you make the recipe you heat up the dates, peanut butter, honey etc and then mix all the dry together with it. You would need to make sure you are careful when mixing the wet and the dry together that the heat of the wet doesn’t cause your chocolate to melt. You can buy chocolate drops and they are usually pretty sturdy at holding their shape – however its defiantly something to bear in mind. You can just swap chocolate for an ingredient you want to take out i.e. 80g chocolate for 80g dried apricot, or 80g chocolate for 40g figs and 40g dried apricot. As long as you have enough of the wet ingredients thats the most important as thats want binds it all together. Another idea would be to just make the recipe as suggested but at the end to melt some dark (or white) chocolate and drizzle it over the top, flicking it, like zig zags. It would look nice, help the bars to hold their shape and no doubt taste delicious. Hope this helps. Take care, Georgie x
Thanks a million. I also thought (at 2am) that a drizzle or dip at the end and then set it in the fridge would be the best idea. Im having a major lack of after school pick up snack Ideas at the moment . If go to keep a 5 year old and a 15 mo th old with limited teeth happy. I think the summer holidays have finished all my brain cells off
I have just made these. Found at the last minute that I didn’t have enough honey do I used 2/3 honey and 1/3 maple syrup. Also missed out the gigs as no one in the house is keen on them. They turned out DELICIOUS! Much nicer than any cereal / granola bars I’ve bought!
Gigs not gigs
FIGS!!!!