It's only a few minutes now before I head out for a big day on the bike. With a couple of lactate intervals planned I'll definitely be digging into the cookie jar today and with my new nitro bars, I'll have enough sugar flowing through my system to finish the workout strong. Tired of paying too much for power food, I started making my own about two weeks ago. Although I may have used a touch too much sugar and syrup, the batch turned out very tasty and very effective.... they get you home! Since they are a bit intense, I make sure I only use them on my hardest days, like an emergency bar. So if you plan on doing a lot of intervals or have a big hill between you and home after 3-4hrs, this recipe might be just what you need to finish it off strong.
Enjoy!
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Grease a baking pan/casserole dish with butter. Add all the hard ingredients and toast them in the oven for 7-10 minutes (oats, rice krispies, shredded coconut, peanuts, craisans, dried apricots). During this time, combine the brown rice syrup, sugar, salt, espresso (ground coffee beans) and vanilla in a small saucepan over medium heat. Stir constantly until it comes to a boil.
Combine these two mixtures in a large bowl (or an extra big bowl if you accidently used a whole jar of brown rice syrup....) It gets sticky!
Put it all back into the large baking pan/casserole dish to cool. If you used too much syrup like I did, you can place the pan back in the oven for 30 minutes at 270 degrees, this will dry out the bars. Once cooled, cut into the bar size you want and wrap them up.
I have been keeping mine in the fridge and they have been fine now for over two weeks.
1 tablespoon coconut oil (or regular butter)
2/3 cup (unsweetened) shredded coconut
1.25 cups rolled oats
1.5 cups rice krispies
1.5 cup brown rice syrup (Lundberg Sweet Dreams Organic BRS)
1/4 cup natural cane sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine-grain sea salt
2 tablespoons ground espresso/coffee beans
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
290g Peanuts & Craisans (NW Delights PB& J Mix)
340g Dried Apricot (Safeway Selects Dried Pitted Mediterranean Apricots)
Approximate Nutrition Facts per bar (assuming 25 bars)
Yum!
Ride HARD!
Labels: Toque Toast
