Hi there

In a bid to get into my summer clothes, I’ve been trying to be a little healthier lately.  I’m a big believer in ‘a little of what you fancy does you good’ but the last few weeks I’ve been cutting out excess sugar and fat from those little fancies. This time of year you kind of have to, don’t you.

My Granola that I gave you the recipe for a little while back makes a perfect breakfast with some low fat yoghurt, fruit for lunch and nibbles and then a proper dinner (not too big though and no carbs on weekdays).

This morning disaster struck – the granola had run out, and even if we’d had some, we were out of yoghurt. Que a shop bought breakfast bar for hubby, but they’re so full of sugar I just couldn’t bring myself to eat it. You think they’re healthy but they’re so not. I’ve come to the conclusion that if you want stuff that’s good for you and tastes yummy, the only thing to do is to make these things yourself.

So, being rather peckish this morning,  I decided to make some breakfast bars asap. Google didn’t come up with anything healthy that fitted in with what I had in the cupboard so I took a rather old recipe and changed it to fit my purposes. And oh, my goodness, they are amazing. You really have to try them.

Line a small oventray with baking paper. The size doesn’t really matter as the mixture can be squashed together and doesn’t rely on the oven tray edges to hold it in place.

Put 70 grams of pumpkin seeds in a food processer and whizz briefly to break them up into pieces (not powder) then remove and put them into a large jar. Do the same with 25 grams of cacao nibs and 50 grams of almonds.

Remove the pits from six medjool dates and whizz them in the food processor until a paste is formed. Plonk this in the bowl together with 100 grams of oats.

In a saucepan, on a really low heat, melt one table spoon of coconut oil, the juice from one lemon, and 3 tablespoons of honey together with one tablespoon of tahini.

Once melted together, add this to your bowl of ingredients and mix really well. Take care as the oil and honey mix stays hot for longer than you think it should.

Put the mixture onto the baking paper and press it out, the thickness and size is up to you but remember that a certain thickness is required for the bars to stick together.

Put the tray in the fridge for 2-3 hours to set and then cut into slices. I got 14 small slices from my batch but they did crumble quite a lot. On a good note, they easily push together into a bar again.  They containt circa 128 calories each if you make 14 bars and each one stuffed full of goodness. Even the cacao nibs are a superfood. Who’d have thought 🙂

Once cut, I wrapped them in baking paper and put them in a cool place awaiting devouring. The ones I didn’t eat as I sliced them I hasten to add.

I’m also wondering it these bars would work with yoghurt or milk for breakfast. In a Weetabix, but nice, kind of way.

Happy baking peeps.

Marie

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