Yield: 6-8 servings | Time: 40-45 minutes
Food Saving Hacks: Don’t toss those browning bananas or stale granola — they’re perfect energy bar ingredients! This recipe is your kitchen clean-out superhero, transforming would-be trash into delicious treasure.
Ingredients:
- 1 cup old-fashioned oats (or crushed cereal or granola)
- ½ cup nut or seed butter (peanut, almond, sunflower seed or tahini)
- ⅓ cup honey, maple syrup or mashed overripe banana
- ¼ cup of any mix-in you have handy
Mix-ins:
- Dried Fruits: Dates, raisins, cranberries, cherries or apricots.
- Nuts and Seeds: Walnuts, almonds, cashews or chia, flax or hemp seeds.
- Sweets: Shredded coconut, chocolate chips or cacao nibs
- Spices: Cinnamon, ginger, cardamom or pumpkin pie spice.
- Sneaky Veggies: Cooked sweet potato, pumpkin puree or finely grated carrots
Instructions:
- Depending on the ingredients you’re using, you can either:
- Use a food processor to pulse tougher ingredients like nuts and dried fruit until they form a paste, then add softer ingredients and mix until everything is combined.
- Use a mixing bowl to combine finely chopped ingredients and nut butter, and mix with a spoon or your hands.
- If the mixture is too dry, add a little more sweetener or a tiny amount of water or liquid sweetener. If it’s too sticky, add more oats or a similar dry ingredient.
- Press into the bottom of a pan and cut into bars or roll the mixture into bite-sized balls.
- Refrigerate the energy bars for at least 30 minutes to help them firm up.
Save More Than Food! Pop your back-to-school energy bars into the freezer in an airtight container for up to 3 months, and you’ve got an instant snack stash!
Click here to download the recipe card.
