WholegrainGourmet's Multigrain Energy Bars

Multigrain Energy Bars

I found an interesting web site, where the users are trying to eat more whole grains, like me: WholeGrainGourmet.  This is a web site for recipes, yes, but they also have a forum where they discuss whole grain lifestyle things.  I'll monitor it awhile and see if it is worth joining.

Today I tried one of their recipes, the one that brought me to the site in the first place.  I was trying to find a recipe for a granola bar, something new to try, besides my favourite so far, Girli's Groovy Granola Bar.  This one, a Multigrain Energy Bar, looked promising.

I didn't have all the ingredients that the recipe required.  Some of the dried fruit I switched for dried fruit that I had on hand, most of it was fruit that I had dehydrated myself: so, instead of using dried cherries, dried blueberries, and dried apricots, I used dried papaya, dried pears, and dried mangos.  I also used an 8 grain cereal that I bought at Arva Flour Mills, instead of the 7 grain cereal that the recipe calls for.

The recipe is a good one, but the taste is mostly peanut butter and honey, rather than grains: a little too sweet and gummy for my taste.  So I still prefer Girli's Granola Bar recipe.  I will admit though, that this one holds together very nicely, and without using the oven much.

 I gather the ingredients: all here except for vanilla and the boiling water

 Broiled the oats and almonds for about 6-7 minutes

 I cut the dried fruit, and the pulsing food processor did nothing more to them

 Dry ingredients are mixed together

 The water is boiled, and the 8 grain cereal is added

 I boiled it for about 2-3 minutes

 Then I added the peanut butter and honey

 I put it back on the heat

 And stirred it on medium heat for 7 minutes

 Add it to the granola mix

It is fairly hot and they want you to mix it by hand: I think a spatula works just fine

 Press it down in a pan, and let it sit for 2 hours before cutting

Notes to Myself

• What else besides peanut butter can be used to put together grains in this way?  You need something that can be a bit liquid and gluey when warmed, and yet congeals and hardens when at room temperature.  This is why corn syrup is used, I bet; and marshmallows, as in rice krispie squares -- but there are reasons why I don't like to use either of those.  It is not that I don't like peanut butter, but here it dominates too much of the taste.  What else, what else?
• Here is the recipe of the above bar, for those who don't like to follow links:
• Ingredients:
• 1/4 c each almonds, sesame seeds, dried cherries, dried currants, dried blueberries, dried apricots (see notes above for my alternatives)
• 1/2 c 7 grain cereal (or 8 grain cereal)
• 2 c rolled oats
• 1/2 c honey
• 1/4 tsp kosher salt
• 1 c organic peanut butter
• 1 tsp vanilla
• Method:
• toast oats, almonds, under low broiler (at 500 degrees F, about 5-6 min.)
• chop dried fruits to small diced pieces (I found the food processor didn't mince them)
• Mix dry ingredients in large bowl by hand
• boil 1/2 c water, add 7 or 8 grain cereal, stir and remove, rest 2 min.
• Add peanut butter, honey, salt, vanilla to the pan and stir on med heat 7 min.
• Add to dry ingredients, mixing thoroughly with spatula (this might be too hot to combine by hand)
• Press hard into 8x8 pan (no need to butter pan); press down with spatula
• Rest 2 hours, cut into bars and freeze until use.