 |
| Little Patience: Watching the muesli bars cool down for eating |
Our household practically keeps the manufacturer of a certain muesli bar, and muesli, in business.
And when we get caught out and about sans snacks (which happens far too often) muesli cookies are often the only 'healthy' option on offer. (Next up we'll have the recipe for the muesli cookies I just removed from the oven.)
So with muesli bars undoubtedly sitting at the top of Billie's favourite food list, I've been cooking them up in my head for some time now.
Finally last weekend Billie made it happen. 'Mum, can we make muesli bars?' 'How about we make something else - muffins, scones?' 'No. I wanna make muesli bars'. Okay, it's decided then.
I'm extremely happy with this recipe, made up on the go. I cooked them a little hot and fast the first time round - see blackened raisins above - but the taste was still superb.
If you have peanut allergies in the house then swap for another nut butter. If you're in a total nut-free zone then try a little more tahini and a little more honey. But really the peanut butter isn't that essential. (It just tastes great.)
Don't try and distribute and eat straight from the oven. Very crumbly. Wait an hour or so and they will set nicely. We rushed the hot muesli bars off to a gardening bee at our local Waverley Park Communal Gardens. The gardeners still enjoyed them though.
RECIPE: MUESLI BARS
100g coconut oil (or use 3/4 cup of another suitable oil such as rice bran, sunflower)
5 Tablespoons honey
1/2 cup shredded coconut or desiccated coconut
1/4 cup sesame seeds
1/4 cup sunflower seeds
1/2 cup raisins/sultanas (use big juicy ones if you can) - optional
2 cups oats
4 Tablespoons peanut butter
1 Tablespoon tahini (If you can't get it just add 1 extra peanut butter)
Preheat oven to 180 c or 350 F. Grease a large rectangle oven dish, or two square/round ones.
Melt oil and honey in small pot on low heat until just bubbling. Meanwhile, combine dry ingredients in large bowl. Remove oil and honey from heat and stir peanut butter and then tahini through until smooth. Immediately mix it through dry ingredients until well combined.
Spread out flat in oven dish and bake on middle shelf until just browned on top and cooked through - approximately 20-30 minutes. If it is browning on top and not cooking through then cover with foil for a bit.
Leave muesli bars to cool before removing, and then slice into bars.
