Whether you're ready or not, here we are in the last week of August and if you have wee ones at home, it's back to school time. Even if you don't, you can sense it happening with fall clothes gracing department store racks and juice box and snack displays at local grocery stores. While those little pre-packaged snacks are appealing in their simplicity, making your own can be just as easy.
Growing up, granola bars were the snack of choice. My mom never made them, but she bought different varieties and my sisters and I ate them (or occasionally traded them for a sweet we weren't allowed to have) with each passing school day. Recently I've started to make granola bars at home, working to develop a version I could sell with my granola company, Marge and I've stumbled upon many wonderful no-bake energy bars that are made largely with dates as a binding agent, and boast fresh ingredients like cranberries, apricots or peanut butter. I'm sold.
While they're technically no-bake, a few of the recipes will have you turning on your oven just to toast the nuts, but otherwise most of them are one-bowl affairs that require processing the ingredients in a food processor, pressing the mixture into a pan and chilling until firm. It's that easy. And most definitely less expensive than buying similar snacks at the store.
Try a Recipe:
• Chocolate Cranberry Power Bars- Elana's Pantry (pictured above)
• Peanut Butter Energy Bars - Serious Eats
• Big Sur Energy Bars - 101 Cookbook
• Chocolate Date Energy Bars - Five Second Rule
• Apricot Coconut Energy Bars - Shutterbean
Related: Homemade Power Bars
(Image: Elana's Pantry)
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They all have nuts.. IT would be great to have an energy bar that didn't have nuts for those of us who are allergic.. Alas, we are doomed to low energy.
I was tasked with coming up with a no-bake, lower carbon, heart-healthy granola bar for a wellnes fair at SFGH. People gobbled these up! http://www.tiltedskillet.com/blog/2012/04/chewy-no-bake-granola-bars.html
Shandon, that recipe looks easy and delicious -- thanks for sharing!
daigan, you can use puffed rice or seeds like sunflower, pumpkin, or soybeans.
These look great!
I make a no-bake energy/protein bar pretty regularly and you can definitely leave out the almond butter and substitute with soy butter or another alternative you enjoy the taste of:
http://cointrin.ca/dan-cohens-healthy-protein-bars
Ever since discovering Larabars, I've been interested in trying to make my own concoctions. Of the recipes listed above, only the Chocolate Date energy bars recipe doesn't have grains, legumes, or added sugars. For health reasons, I've been eating a paleo-based diet for the last 3-months so these particular recipes would be a no-go but still a good base to start from. Considering how sweet the binder fruits are, I don't understand why sugar(s) would need to be added in the first place. And as a review of eating paleo, my health has improved (adult asthma) and I've already lost 10 pounds without trying or being hungry at all - and those were hard-to-budge vanity pounds, not overweight pounds!
I have been experimenting with Larabar-inspired recipes, and I have been enjoying the chocolate/mint flavor combination (see recipe link below). Also, instead of pressing them into bars, I have found that rolling them into balls makes for a nice, bite-sized snack.
https://vegedibles.wordpress.com/2012/08/04/from-the-sticky-note-files-balls/
Ditto no sugar or grains.
I started with the basic recipes for "truffles" from the websites Mark's Daily Apple and Nora Gedgaudas'.
Then I create a new variation each time I make them, to tailor to what flavors we're currently interested in.
Ooh, please, why the nuts? Why the sugar? Why all that FLAVOR and awful poisonous ingredients??? Puh- leez!!! Ok, we get it. You can't eat nuts, no gluten, no this, no that. We understand, really. It's gotta suck at times. But some of us can get around these issues. In fact, most of us can enjoy the majority, if not all these these ingredients with no worries. Stop trying to guilt us into not adding a little sugar to our food. Or salt. Or beans, legumes, meat, grains, butter... anything. Maybe you can quietly adjust the contents of these recipes without making us all feel bad for eating everything in sight, and enjoying it! There, now I feel better.
Daigan, I just posted a nut-free (and also dairy and gluten-free) superfood energy bar last night. The best darned granola bars I've ever tasted in my life. I am making a 2nd batch right now in the oven, even though I made the first one only Wednesday. That's how good they are! Can't wait to see some of these other recipes too!
http://foodforthoughtlinds.blogspot.ca/2012/08/super-powered-granola-bars.html
Am I the only one to notice that the PB bars must be fully baked?
I'm sure they are all delicious for once in a while. Basically they are candy bars or ideal food for someone who needs to gain weight. An apple makes a better afternoon snack.