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Oat Bars

By Tryfan Williams   

on May 12, 2013    No ratings yet.

Posted in Outdoor Articles

Oat Bars

 

Oat Bars

What’s the benefit?

Good to have in the fridge as an inexpensive breakfast if you’re running late, or a portable mid-morning and/or mid afternoon snack, these bars  will keep hunger at bay and will kick those high in sugar pretenders in the supermarket to touch.

The science bit

Porridge oats have Low GI (glycemic index)

Peanut butter is high in monounsaturated fats

Almonds are rich in fibre and vitamin E, and have more calcium than any other nut

Sesame seeds are loaded with essential minerals such as manganese, copper, iron, phosphorus and calcium.

Pine nuts contain pinoleic acid, which research has found to be an effective appetite suppressant

Flaxseed are a high protein and fibre source

Ingredients

2 cups rolled oats

¼ cup sesame seeds

2 Tbsp almonds

1 Tbsp pine nuts

1 Tbsp ground flaxseed

½ cup water

¾ cup creamy peanut butter

½ cup honey

½ cup dried raisins

½ cup dried sultanas


How to make

Preheat the  oven (Gas mark 6). Mix the oats, nuts and seeds and spread evenly over a bake tray. Toast in the oven until light brown (10-15 mins)

In the mean time heat your peanut butter and honey in a saucepan over a low heat.

Take out your bake tray and transfer to a mixing bowl, along with your warm peanut butter and stir until the mixture starts to combine, adding small amounts of water as you see fit.

Grease a baking tray, and then transfer your mix evenly, pressing it down into a uniform thickness. Place tray in the fridge for a couple of hours until they harden, then cut up into snack sized bars.

You should get 14-20 bars depending on how mean you are with your portion allocation!

Tryfs Top Tips

Wrap in Clingfilm and pop in your bag for a snack that should survive a day without refrigeration.

Variations

As with most things you can tailor the recipe to suit your tastes. You could swap the fruit and nuts for your favourite variations, or add coconut or vanilla to the flavour. You could also transform them into cereal bars by adding a half cup of multigrain cereal.

Or you could make them post-workout bars by adding a scoop and a half of Protein powder.

Get cracking and come back to us with your comments and attempts.

Please rate this

Tryfan Williams

I’m a Welshman born and raised in the shadow of Snowdonia, and you could say the Mountains are in my blood with a name like Tryfan! I would class myself as a relative newcomer to the outdoor pursuits arena, and so my articles will be my attempt to chronicle my adventures, hopefully learning as I go and giving those that are in a similar boat an insight / forum to share and learn.

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