Nutty Muesli Breakfast Bars

5 ingredient muesli bars     

I hate breakfast cereal!  I remember as a child having soggy cornflakes and weet-bix before running out to catch the school bus (we could see it coming round the bend in the road from our kitchen window).  Every now and again mum would buy cocoa pops or frosties as a treat, but this was rare. Oh, she did make porridge in winter which I loved.  (See, the Scottish blood again).  I don't know if this story is true but our Scottish friend told us that back in Scotland where he grew up, his nan used to make up a whole heap of porridge, then let it get cold and firm and keep it in a kitchen drawer! They would then slice off a piece in the morning, and add hot milk for breakfast.  This is either incredibly funny or incredibly true and weird; I am not sure which.

Mr P. loves a big bowl of cereal in the morning, but sometimes we run out or he doesn't have a lot of time.  He recently bought himself some breakfast bars from the supermarket, so he could eat a couple on the run.  I figured I could make some that were just as good, and hopefully better.  I told him that I was going to make some for him, which pleased him, though he did say the packet ones were pretty good.   Huh, not really what I wanted to hear!

I already had some macadamia butter in the pantry, and I wanted to make this an Aussie sort of bar so I decided to use macadamias as the nut of choice.  I can't believe the Queen prefers to eat Hawaiian ones.  The cheek:)  Doesn't she know what good little Colonials we are?  And shouldn't she be supporting the Aussie nut trade?:=) Mmmmmph!

I have used the recipe from Minimalist Baker as a basis - here; and I have tweaked with the ingredients I prefer.

ingredients:

1 cup (220g.) medjool dates, pitted - you end up with c. 200g.
1+1/2 cups (150g.) rolled oats (I used wholegrain), toasted
1 cup (180g.) roasted nuts of your choice
1/4 cup maple syrup (or sweetener of your choice like agave syrup, honey etc)
1/4 cup nut butter of your choice - peanut, almond, whatever:)


Throw in dried fruit, choc chips, banana chips and so on; whatever takes your fancy

Method:

Pit the dates by slitting down the middle vertically, and pulling the seed out

Throw the pitted dates into a food processor and blitz till it starts to look like a dough, and/or forms into a ball 

Toast the oats in a 180C oven for 10-15 minutes till lightly golden
(Make sure the nuts go in for 5-10 minutes too if you have bought raw ones)

Place the dates, oats and nuts into a large bowl

Pour/spoon the maple syrup and nut butter into a small saucepan, and warm over a low heat till gently bubbling round the edges

Pour the warmed syrup mix over the nutty, oaty mix and combine well together - you will need a bit of muscle here to incorporate the dates

Spoon it into a lined baking tray about 18 x 28cm

Press it down very firmly and cover with baking paper or clingfilm

Place in fridge or freezer for at least 20 mins.

Take it out and cut up into bars of whatever size you fancy

Store in airtight container for a few days, or whack 'em into the fridge or freezer

ingredients all ready to go!

everything blitzed and toasted

heating up the syrup and nut butter    

spooning out the mix into a lined tray  

all flattened out :)  

chilled and cut up; ready for eating   

Okay, I have to tell you I am not a fan of these bars.  They taste great, and are probably healthy.  But I just don't like muesli!  Mr P. likes them, and that is the important thing as I made them for him.
I have put them in the fridge to keep; we live in a sub-tropical climate, so pretty much everything goes in the fridge.  They are also a wee bit crumbly, so I think it needs the extra chilling.  Next time I will add finely diced dried apricots for a bit of sweetness and flavour.