Community Corner
Homemade Enegy Bars for on the Go
My personal variation of a ciff bar for active families made at a fraction of the price.
For any hike, bike trip or endurance activity it’s good to make sure that you are prepared and properly nourished and energized.
Many times I am asked by clients, family and friends about good nutritious snacks for on the go. At one time I would suggest a protein bar or trail mix, but for many reasons have decided to look for more homemade snacks.
One reason is the prices of these prepackaged items were burning a hole in my wallet. Another reason I decided to make my own was because I wanted to stay away from all those added ingredients that I can’t pronounce or find at my local store. And lastly, my daughter has a tree nut allergy and I can give her anything with almonds, or cashew or nuts of any sort.
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BUT we can have peanut butter so I created my own version of a Cilff bar that works for us. The first batch I made was as delicious as the store bought one and a fraction of the price. I did a bit of research online and by simply walking the aisle of my favorite grocery store.
While at in Shrewsbury I took a look at the ingredients of several bars to see what may work for our family. I wanted to use items that may be easily found in my cupboards and are readily available to shoppers.
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I stayed away from all those fancy scientific names of chemicals and additives I didn’t know even how to pronounce. I found a basic recipe online and then I perfected it to work with our allergy and my families likes.
Here is my version for Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cliff bars. My friends and my son’s soccer team in town loved these treats.
I hope you will also enjoy this no bake snack. For playoff weekend, we had a double soccer game on Saturday and then had to rush off to another playoff game for Shrewsbury Youth Soccer, so I made another batch of these to quickly energize my son and help both teams stay powered up during their playoff tournaments.
Homemade Cliff Bars (no bake)
1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal
1 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
2 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)
1/4 cup mini chocolate chips
1/3 cup honey
1/2 cup crunchy peanut butter
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Combine the rice cereal, oats, flaxseed meal, in a large bowl.
Combine the honey and peanut butter in a small saucepan over medium heat, stirring until melted and well-blended (alternatively microwave in small microwave-safe bowl 30-60 seconds until melted). Stir in vanilla until blended.
Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated (use a wooden spoon at first, and then get your hands in it. It will be sticky, but this way you can really coat everything. Just scrape off your hands when you're done). Let this cool for about 5-10 minutes then add the mini chocolate chips (else they will melt). Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) using a large square of wax paper (really tamp it down). Cool in pan on a wire rack and chill at least 30 minutes to help it set. Cut into 12 bars. (Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator).