January 26, 2008

Golfer's Delight (aka: Trail Mix Bars)


I call these bars "Golfer's Delight" because my husband, who is a golfer, is delighted when he eats one at the turn. Without a mid-game snack his energy fades but he didn't like the idea of eating all those preservative filled "power bars". So, I began making some at home. The sugars give a quick boost to one's energy, the oats kick-in pretty close after while the almond protein digests nice & slow so you doesn't have an energy crash 60 min. later. I bake a bunch of them, cut them into single serving sizes, wrap them in plastic wrap & store them in freezer in a big zip lock bag. Defrosting only takes an hour or two so you can just grab one, pop it into a lunch bag & by-the-time someone is ready to eat it it is, well, ready to be eaten. The recipe (which has been adapted from an online recipe from "I Can't Remember Where" blog ages ago) is as follows...

Ingredients
4 ½ cups rolled oat
1 cup flour (white, whole wheat or a mix is a-ok)
1 tsp baking soda
1 ½ tsp ground cinnamon
1 ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
2/3 cup butter (soft)
½ cup honey
½ cup packed brown sugar
½ cup raisins
½ cup craisons (dried blueberries or cherries also work nicely)
½ cup (heaping) whole almonds
½ cup chocolate chips

Directions:

1) Preheat oven to 325 degrees & grease a 9x15 inch pan.

2) Combine the first four ingredients in your largest bowl. Add honey, brown sugar, butter & vanilla. The batter will be quite sticky & heavy so scrub up and use your hands to mix.

3) Add rest of ingredients & mix until combined.

4) Press the "dough" evenly into the greased pan. Bake 30 minutes or until golden brown. If undercooked they will crumble. They are nearly impossible to burn so better to over bake them then under bake them I say. Allow pan to cool for about 10 minutes. Cut into "bars" BUT leave them in the pan until they have cooled completely.

5) Enjoy!

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