3 Ways To Prepare Homemade Energy Bars
Energy bars are a healthy option for those who need to recharge their body with energy. However, most of these bars available on the market contain colorants, preservatives and other additives.
How about preparing them yourself at home? Thus, you will make sure that all the ingredients are of quality and, in addition, of your taste.
How to prepare homemade energy bars
In general, energy bars are made from cereals, which provide extra energy thanks to their high content of complex carbohydrates. They also have a compact size ideal to carry and consume when necessary, for example, before or after physical exercise.
Although the main ingredient in the bars are cereals, they also usually include other ingredients rich in complex carbohydrates such as nuts and fruits. Likewise, they are also prepared with a more liquid ingredient that will help the rest to come together: honey, yogurt, butter, etc.
On the other hand, you can prepare homemade energy bars in different ways, depending on the time you have and your taste, of course. Indeed, some will need to be baked while others can be prepared without having to turn on the oven.
In this article, we introduce you to three ways you can make energy bars. To do this, we also give you a recipe.
Baked energy bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup of almonds
- ½ cup walnuts
- Half a cup of raisins
- 2 cups of rolled oats
- 2 cups of wheat flakes
- 1 cup rye flakes
- ½ cup sesame chia seed mix
- 200 grams of honey
Preparation
- First, chop the nuts. It is important that we do not crush them because later, when we bake the bar, it will fall apart in our hands. Therefore, it is better to leave them in small pieces.
- Next, we crush the seeds.
- Then, in the same bowl, mix the cereals, nuts and seeds and mix them well.
- Now, we are going to combine these ingredients by adding the honey little by little. To do this, we are going to stir while we add it until we have everything well linked like a paste.
- Later, on a baking paper in a mold or baking tray, we spread the pasta or dough and we give it a rectangular shape, smoothing the surface.
- Then, we put the mold in the oven and bake at 150-170 ºC for about 20 or 25 minutes. It is important that we check how the baking is going: the dough should not become too hard.
- Next, we take it out of the oven and wait for it to cool. We can now cut into bars of the size we want.
Energy bars without oven
Ingredients
- 25 dried figs
- 100 g of cereals (muesli mix, oatmeal, etc.)
- 25 g of dried fruits (walnuts, almonds or hazelnuts according to your taste)
- 2 tablespoons of honey
Preparation
- First, we must crush the figs until they are completely crushed, without lumps, like a thick paste.
- Then, we will mix the figs and honey in a bowl until they are well combined.
- Later, we will also grind a little more than half of the cereals.
- Next, we must incorporate that half of the crushed cereals to the mixture of figs and honey and stir very well.
- Later, we can spread the dough on a square or rectangular container. To do this, we must shape it until it is an elongated and smooth rectangular dough.
- Then, we can cut it into smaller pieces, which will be the bars.
- Finally, we separate the bars and decorate them by tossing the rest of the cereals on top.
- We put them in the fridge separately and wait for them to cool (about two hours) to be able to consume them. That easy!
And this time … in the microwave
Ingredients
- 40 grams of butter
- 20 grams of brown sugar
- 120 grams of oats
- 40 grams of almonds
- 100 grams of dark chocolate (to melt)
Preparation
- First, we crush the almonds.
- Next, mix the powdered ingredients well in a bowl: sugar, oats and almonds.
- Later, we undo the butter in a water bath or in the microwave.
- Later, we add the butter to the powdered ingredients and mix everything very well.
- Then, we place this mass that we have found in a microwave-safe container. We smooth the dough and give it a rectangular shape.
- We bake in the microwave for about 2.5 minutes at maximum power.
- Then, after this time, we let it cool down.
- Next, we melt the chocolate and, afterwards, we pour it over the mass of the bars.
- When everything has cooled down, we can cut the bars according to the size we prefer.
As you can see, there are three groups of ingredients that you must include : cereals, nuts / fruit and an ingredient to bind them (honey, butter, yogurt). From there, just let your fantasy fly.
Indeed, you can prepare the bars with the ingredients that you like the most. For example, oatmeal and banana, cereal and apple, with strawberries, etc.
