Energy Bars
My kids and I love this energy bar recipe. It's easy to make, full of all sorts of nutritious seeds, and, most importantly it tastes so good!
Why This Recipe Works
- Quick to make, takes less than 10 minutes, plus chilling
- Tastes so good no one will realise they are eating so many nutritious seeds
- Easy to eat one-handed or on the go
Ingredients you will need
To make my energy bars you will need puffed rice, pumpkin and sunflower seeds, almonds, sesame seeds, chia seeds and flaxseed. Then some honey, butter and vanilla to bring it all together.
Substitutes
- Puffed rice: I typically use rice bubbles, if you need these energy bars to be gluten-free make sure you look for gluten-free puffed rice cereal.
- Almonds: These can be substituted for any nut, cashews also work well. If you need these bars to be nut-free you can substitute these for extra sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds.
- Butter: This can be substituted for coconut oil, if you do this I would add a pinch of salt. I use salted butter and the little bit of salt enhances the flavour of the energy bars.
- Small seeds: by this I mean the chia seeds, flaxseed and sesame seeds, you can use any combination of these seeds, hemp seeds also work well.
- Honey: This can be substituted for maple syrup
Step by step instructions
Below are illustrated step-by-step instructions to make my energy bars, if you prefer just the written instructions then head straight to the printable recipe card below.
Step one: In a large saucepan heat the honey and butter, this will foam and will begin to darken in colour. As you heat the butter and honey will form a caramel, you will know it's ready when you can draw a spatula through the mixture and you will be able to briefly form a channel.
I use this same quick honey caramel recipe as the base in my rice bubble slice and popcorn bars.
Step two: While the caramel is boiling, combine all the nuts, seeds, and puffed rice together in a mixing bowl. This is also a good time to line a loaf tin with baking paper.
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Step three: Remove the caramel from the heat, stir through the vanilla and then add the nuts and seeds.
Step four: While the energy bar mix is still hot, press into the bottom of the baking paper-lined loaf tin.
Step five: Allow the energy bar mix to cool, you can do this on the bench or in the fridge, remove from the loaf tin and slice into bars.
Step six: Store in an airtight container, if you live in a hot climate I would recommend storing the energy bars in the refrigerator. If you store them in the fridge they will be crunchy, if they are stored in a warm environment they will still be delicious but they will be a bit softer and chewier.
Top Tips
Here is how you can make this recipe perfectly every time!
- Check the freshness of your nuts and seeds, if your nuts and seeds aren't fresh your energy bar made from them will never taste good.
- If you aren't using salted butter as your fat in this recipe, be sure to add a pinch of salt to the caramel, this will really enhance the flavour of energy bars.
- For a crunchy crispy energy bar store somewhere cool or in the fridge, for a softer chewier texture store at room temperature.
- If your energy bars do not set, this means the caramel was not boiled for long enough, make sure it has thickened sufficiently for the channel test, and it has darkened in colour before removing it from the heat.
FAQs
That will ultimately depend on the ingredients used, these energy bars contain 200 calories per bar.
That will ultimately depend on the ingredients used, these energy bars contain 8g of sugar per bar, which is just under 2 teaspoons of sugar.
My kids love to snack on these energy bars, they love to snack on all sorts of bars, other recipes you may like include my apple oat bars (these are a softer style granola bar good for younger children), my peanut butter bars or my oat slice is delicious too.
Energy Bar
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Ingredients
- ½ cup sunflower seeds 70g
- ½ cup pumpkin seeds 70g
- ½ cup almonds 75g
- ½ cup puffed rice 13g
- 2 tablespoon chia seeds 18g
- 2 tablespoon flaxseed 18g
- 2 tablespoon sesame seeds 18g
- 30 g butter
- 80 ml honey One third of a cup
- 1 teaspoon vanilla 5ml
Instructions
- In a large saucepan heat the honey and butter, this will foam and will begin to darken in colour. As you heat the butter and honey will form a caramel, you will know it's ready when you can draw a spatula through the mixture and you will be able to briefly form a channel.
- While the caramel is boiling, combine all the nuts, seeds, and puffed rice together in a mixing bowl. This is also a good time to line a loaf tin with baking paper.
- Remove the caramel from the heat, stir through the vanilla and then add the nuts and seeds.
- While the energy bar mix is still hot, press into the bottom of the baking paper-lined loaf tin.
- Allow the energy bar mix to cool, you can do this on the bench or in the fridge, remove from the loaf tin and slice into bars.
- Store in an airtight container, if you live in a hot climate I would recommend storing the energy bars in the refrigerator. If you store them in the fridge they will be crunchy, if they are stored in a warm environment they will still be delicious but they will be a bit softer and chewier.
Video
Notes
Tips
- Check the freshness of your nuts and seeds, if your nuts and seeds aren't fresh your energy bar made from them will never taste good.
- If you aren't using salted butter as your fat in this recipe, be sure to add a pinch of salt to the caramel, this will really enhance the flavour of energy bars.
- For a crunchy crispy energy bar store somewhere cool or in the fridge, for a softer chewier texture store at room temperature.
- If your energy bars do not set, this means the caramel was not boiled for long enough, make sure it has thickened sufficiently for the channel test, and it has darkened in colour before removing it from the heat.
- Puffed rice: I typically use rice bubbles, if you need these energy bars to be gluten-free make sure you look for gluten-free puffed rice cereal.
- Almonds: These can be substituted for any nut, cashews also work well. If you need these bars to be nut-free you can substitute these for extra sunflower and/or pumpkin seeds.
- Butter: This can be substituted for coconut oil, if you do this I would add a pinch of salt. I use salted butter and the little bit of salt enhances the flavour of the energy bars.
- Small seeds: by this, I mean the chia seeds, flaxseed and sesame seeds, you can use any combination of these seeds, hemp seeds also work well.
- Honey: This can be substituted for maple syrup
Nutrition
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Super quick and pretty easy to make! Haven’t let the kids taste yet, but I enjoy the taste! I’m thinking I let the caramel get to cool before I mixed the seeds/nuts in so they didn’t all get coated. So need to perfect my technique. I really like that they stay together at room temperature and don’t go all soft/melt like loads of other bar type recipes o have tried. Thanks Stacey
Made these the other day and they are so good.
Super fast and easy to make, next time I might add some chopped up dried apricots too and see how that goes.
Nice, but needs more honey or something sweet I thought?
I think this will depend on people's palates, my family find this recipe quite sweet.
Really easy to make. Good way to have nutritious snacks on the go. My family loves them
Oh I'm glad you and your family enjoy them.
Will try them today, i dont have the puffed rice i will add some more almonds and pumpkin seeds instead hope it will work well