Recipe: Puffed Quinoa Bars

[mergatrude]

One of my favourite snacks is muesli/granola bars, but my favourite brand of GF bars is a little expensive so I thought I'd try my hand at making something myself. After a bit of trial and error, I've come up with my own recipe that's both repeatable and adaptable.

m's snack bars

1/2 cup almond butter
1/2 cup honey
2 cups puffed quinoa
1/2 cup cranberries
1/2 cup pepitas
1/4 cup flaxseeds, ground
1/4 cup sunflower seeds

Heat the almond butter and honey in a large, microwave safe bowl for 30-40 seconds. Stir well to combine until the mixture is smooth. Add the other ingredients to the bowl and gently fold them through the honey/almond mixture. If the mixture seems a little dry, add more honey! Press the mixture evenly into a lined baking tin (I use a 27x18 cm slice tin), making sure the top is as smooth as you can make it. Bake in a slow oven (150C or thereabouts - my oven is fan-forced and runs a little hot) for 10-15 minutes. The longer you bake it for the crunchier it gets. Allow to cool, then place the tin in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to chill completely. Cut into bars (my tin gives me 12 bars) and store in the fridge for up to two weeks.



Variations:

• You can use any nut butter


• I have not tried it with an alternative sweetener as the honey works like glue


• I have made this with rolled oats. You could also try rolled rice flakes, puffed rice, quinoa flakes, etc


• Other options I've used are dark chocolate chips, diced dried pineapple, diced dried paw-paw, chopped macadamia nuts, goji berries, the possibilities are endless

If you prefer more chocolate in your snacks, I highly recommend these Coconut Almond Power Bars, which are also quite adaptable.

I'm happy to chat about ingredients, method, etc. For example, I listed rolled oats above because I buy Red Tractor brand Wheat-Free Oats. Pepitas are a variety of pumpkin seeds. All measurements are metric, but precision is not critical.

Comments

[runpunkrun]

Where do you get your puffed quinoa?