Already holidays are over and it’s back to school for most boys and girls, my grandson included. With the increased awareness of children with allergies it is more difficult to provide snacks for our children that love to eat nuts.
When I came across this recipe for a muesli bar that did not contain nuts but still had good ingredients in (apart from the sugars) I decided to give it a go.
I had all the ingredients that were required to make these in my pantry and decided to give it a go. I did not follow the recipe per-say but added a couple of items that I wanted to be included. After making this bar, I believe it lends itself to really play around with and add whatever you like. The only difference would be to perhaps add a little more of the toffee to act as glue.
My toffee mix reached softball much quicker than the time in the recipe, and once ready you need to pour it into the dry mixture and stir as quickly as possible. It begins to set fairly quickly and I didn’t try to take a picture or I would have had it all set in the bowl.
Turn the mixture out into your lined tin and press down to make it flat as quickly as you can. I had a little left in the bowl stuck to the sides, but it was nice to scrape off and eat (perhaps I shouldn’t have, but someone has to taste test?).
Once the mixture is set in the tin and quite cool, slice into whatever sizes you wish. Because I added slightly different ingredients than those originally intended I think a little more of the syrup/toffee mix would have been better. Still it was really nice and my grandson gave it the tick of approval. I guess it will be a nice addition to his lunchbox, even if it isn’t every day.
I hope you have fun playing with the recipe to personalise it. We will definitely do it again with some slight additions, e.g. dried apple.
Let me know how you went?
- 1-1/4 cups rolled oats
- 1 cup desiccated coconut
- 1/2 cup rice bubbles*
- 1/2 cup sunflower seeds
- 1/2 cup sesame seeds
- 1 tsp cinnamon**
- 75g unsalted butter
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 cup liquid glucose
- 1/2 cup brown sugar
- Optional: 1/8 cup dried cranberries
- Line a 27cm x 18cm slice tin with baking paper.
- Combine oats, coconut, rice bubbles, seeds, cranberries and spice in a large bowl.
- Melt the butter in a saucepan over medium heat, then add the honey, glucose and sugar.
- Bring to a boil and cook for 10 minutes, (mine took 5), until a drop of the caramel forms a soft ball when poured into cold water. ( I put an ice cube into the water to make it colder).
- Pour immediately over the oat mixture and beat until smooth. (Mine was a little drier so I just stirred.
- Working quickly, press into the prepared tin, and press to flatten.
- Put aside to cool completely before slicing to whatever size you like with an oiled knife.
- Store in an airtight container for up to 4 weeks. (that is if they last that long!!)
- * Original recipe called for unprocessed bran
- ** Can use mixed spice.