Recipe: gluten free muesli bars

[nerakrose]

This is not actually a functional recipe, but they taste amazing. If anybody has any ideas on how to improve these, I'm all ears. More under the cut.

So I decided to make gluten-free muesli bars. I wanted them to be no-bake and I knew I wanted all my favourite things in it, but no recipe online had what I needed, so I just... Put Stuff In A Bowl, essentially.

Ingredients:
250g macadamia nuts, roughly chopped
100g brazil nuts, chopped
150g 4 seed mix (pumpkin, sunflower, sesame, golden flax)
100g dried cranberries
2 tbsp chia seeds
1 cup gf oats
1/4 cup honey
1/4 cup golden syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 tsp almond extract
1/2 tsp salt
about 100g dark (70%) chocolate


Mix all the dry ingredients in a bowl large enough to hold it all. Heat the honey, syrup and vegetable oil in a casserole until frothy, let froth for a minute then take off heat. Add in salt and extracts. Pour over the nuts and seeds and mix well. Pour mixture into a parchment lined pan and press well (use the bottom of glass or something similar to really press it all together). Chill in fridge for at least 3 hours or overnight. The morning after, melt the chocolate and cover the mix. Chill until set. Cut! Enjoy.

These taste like CANDY. I love them. The almond/vanilla ratio is perfect, they're not too sweet, they're just...so good. SO GOOD. They are extremely nutritionally dense, though, so enjoy with caution? I put the bulk of these into the freezer and then put a few into the fridge (I reckon they'll be good for a week in the fridge and up to three months in the freezer).

Now, my honey-syrup-vegetable oil mix did NOT make these bars stick together well. They'll stay firm in the fridge, but they will fall apart... honestly I have absolutely no idea what would be a better way to do this? Suggestions welcome. Perhaps I should've used more oats? almond flour? a different oil? butter? Idk.
I also wanted to do this with only honey, but I didn't have enough of it so topped up with syrup.




I also made my gluten-free crackers again and have updated the post.

Comments

[runpunkrun]

I used to make Smitten Kitchen's thick, chewy granola bars and they held together almost TOO well. Like, it was work to bite into them. So maybe like a halfway point between your recipe and that?

It's all about the ratios. Smitten Kitchen seems to be going with APPROXIMATELY: 2 cups oat+oat flour/3 cups chunky stuff/1 cup sticky+fat

So, if my math is right: 1 (sticky+fat) : 2 (oats) : 3 (nuts+seeds)

There's also granulated sugar in, and these are baked, but maybe it's start?

[nerakrose]

thanks for the tip! I'll try to adjust the ratios next time. :D

I wouldn't mind trying baked ones as well.

[writedragon]

I do something similar, but bind the mess with some kind of nut butter (usually almond or peanut butter, maybe cashew butter). No grains in it for me, and I usually use maple syrup instead of honey, but the essential idea is the same. With nut butter there's no need for additional oil but sometimes I'll throw in a bit of coconut oil to smooth out the texture and add those yummy short-chain fatty acids.

I store the concoction either in an airtight container in the fridge and just scoop out a spoonful at a time to nosh on, or use a cookie scoop and make little balls, freezing individual portions on parchment then storing in a plastic freezer bag in the freezer. I call them "energy bites" rather than granola bars, but they serve basically the same function: nutrient-dense, quick, and delicious enough to satisfy a snack craving.

[nerakrose]

that sounds good! I'm a big no on peanuts (part of the reason why I wanted to make my own, most gf muesli/granola bars I've found have peanuts in them) but I could try with almond butter.

[highlyeccentric]

Oooh. I have just discovered that buckwheat groats have a sort of oaty effect (I'm no-go on oats), I should try something like this with them...

[jesse_the_k]

Can you eat buckwheat groats raw?

I’ve always toasted them in a well-seasoned iron skillet until fragrant (less than 3 minutes) then cooked them like rice.

[nerakrose]

I'm not sure what buckwheat groats are, but I love buckwheat in general and would've tossed them in (toasted first, probably) if I'd had some on hand! I'm actually planning a breakfast granola mix with toasted buckwheat, but that's a project for another day.