Energy Bar Recipe
Howdy,
It's hiking season in the Southwest and with funds a bit low I was hoping to make my own energy bars. I'm looking for a product similar in consistency to Cliff Bars using off the shelf baking ingredients. This is my first run and while the bars are fairly tasty they won't last very long in a backpack. After cooling the bars are more like cake or bread and fairly crumbly. I'm not asking for test baking at home just general comments.
Thanks in advance.
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I've made the ones listed in A fork in the Trail by Laurie March and they were a big hit. I've found honey can vary in sweetness so you might need to reduce the brown sugar a little to your own taste. There's a link to the bar recipe on her samples page. NB: if you have a dehydrator, the roasted tomato dip on this page is also a favorite. I quite like dips & flat breads for lunch and for a 2-3 trip I usually bring dehydrated roasted tomato dip, salsa, and hummous.
Happy trails!
How are you packaging them?
I generally just wrap in waxed paper or plastic wrap and put them in a zip-lock bag. I have sealed them using a vacuum sealer but unless you are packing for a month-long trip, it probably isn't worth the effort. I generally keep my dehydrated trail food and energy bars in the freezer.
I was planning on wrapping the bars in Press n Seal wrap then into my food bag. After reviewing the recipe I'm going to drop the WW flour down to 1 cup and reduce the water to ½ cup. Corn meal might work as a binder for the reduced WW flour. Still looking for Cliff Bar consistency...
I am allergic to peanuts and to chocolate. Any suggested substitutions?
you could use Carob chips for the choc not sure about the nuts though
can you eat any other tree nuts?
Thanks for the link to "A Fork in The Road" back in the day I made my own meals which were quite tasty. What I found was the extra fuel and my really noisy stove (MSR Dragon Fly) just weren't worth the hassle. For the last year or so store bought freeze dried is quick and easy helps me prep for a trip in less time. I did check out the "sample page" and will try the jerky, most store bought is full of nitrates. An interesting note, while backpacking your body turns into a motor fueled by food and water. The energy bar product needs both fast and slow carbs, you burn the fast carbs right away (honey, sugar, flour) the other carbs ( whole grains) burn at a more moderate rate. I just need the bar to stay together in my pack...
Wutan Finder Of The Path
makes a great glue. Forget the pwd milk and sugar and the oven sets this into a nice carmel. Can bake to desired stickiness or until dried crispy and break into chunks. When I started walking trails, granola bars didn't exist. My my.
I find chocolate too messy and prefer to throw in a bag of M&M's or the like with the trail mix.
Mini
to your trail blazing bag of goodies? Here's a recipe for chickpea wild-yeast rusks HERE.