July 02, 2011

Fruit and Seed Tri Bars



I just love a recipe that not only tastes great but is good for you too.  I knew as soon as I saw these bars on Roxana's blog, A little bit of Everything, I would have to make them as my Friday treat.

These bars are so adaptable - follow the basic recipe and add whatever fruits, nuts, and seeds you prefer.   My dried fruit came from a bag of Sunsweet Antioxidant Blend - blueberries, cherries, cranberries, and plums - as well as some raisins that I added to the mix.  My other changes were to add some flax seeds and spelt flour to the mix, and I slightly increased the apple sauce to accommodate this.  I used 2 whole eggs but you can also use 4 eggs whites instead if you want to lower the cholesterol.  Other dried fruits such as apricots, apples, or dates would also make a great addition. After cooling they can be cut into bars, but I decided to cut them into triangles, mainly because I liked the shape.  I didn't think of it any further until my husband said that it made sense because they were for a tri group.  It turned out to be a great play on the shape of the bars and the sport - each side represented a leg - swim, bike, run.

The bars were super easy to make and everyone in the training group loved them.





Fruit and Seed Tri Bars

Ingredients
  • 1½ cups unsweetened applesauce
  • 1¼ cup dried fruits, chopped
  • ⅓ cup sunflower seeds
  • ⅓ cup pumpkin seeds
  • 3 tablespoons flax seeds
  • 4 tablespoons chia seeds
  • 1 cup rolled oats (regular-not quick cooking) 
  • ⅔ cup unsweetened coconut 
  • ⅔ cup self-rising flour
  • ½ cup spelt flour
  • 2 eggs, lightly beaten

Preparation
  1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
  2. Line a 11x9 inch pan with non-stick foil.
  3. In a large bowl add apple sauce and dried fruit and mix to combine.
  4. Add sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax seeds, chia seeds, rolled oats, coconut, self-rising and spelt flours, and eggs and stir until well combined.
  5. Transfer mixture to prepared pan and spread out evenly with a spatula.
  6. Bake for approximately 30 minutes until golden brown.
  7. Cool in the pan.
  8. Remove from pan onto a cutting board and slice into triangles or bars.
  9. Makes approximately 24.
Recipe from A little bit of Everything

12 comments:

  1. delicious looking bars healthy and flavourful

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  2. Love them!! We are always on the lookout for energy bars that aren't too high in fat an "other" junk. These little guys would have done the trick for our dance week (at least for me and the other moms!!). I love the seeds, but I might have to do a sales job on the kids!

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  3. When I saw these by Roxanna I wanted them too, I've still got to tweak the recipe a bit for allergies...but yum, I can't wait.

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  4. These are beautiful! I love that they don't contain refined sugars! Roxana had a great recipe, love your version as well :)!

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  5. Oh Felice, thank you for trying out my recipe. Makes me so happy.
    I love your idea of adding spelt flour, next time I'm going to add some too. Thanks for sharing.

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  6. These are lovely - the photos are fab too!

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  7. Great healthy bars! Wonderful job!

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  8. I saw them on Roxanna's blog too. They look delicious. I love the triangle pieces, for me they look much more fun like that. I cannot wait to try them out as a snack for a long hike.

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  9. Yum- great bars! Like a healthy energy bar! Bookmarking to try soon.

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  10. The bars look wonderful. I can't wait to try this.

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