Saturday, May 29, 2010

White House Fruit and Oat Bars

Continuing my attempt to eat and snack healthier, I decided to make White House Fruit and Oat bars. They are perfect for mid-morning and mid-afternoon snacks and definitely are better than opening up a bag of chips or candies.


Ingredients:
9 tablespoons grapeseed oil, plus extra for brushing pan
3 cups rolled oats
3/4 cup mixed seeds, such as pumpkin, sunflower and sesame
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup maple syrup
pinch of salt
2 cups mixed dried fruit, such as raisins, cranberries, apricots, etc.
1.5 teaspoons ground cinnamon or cardamom

Directions:
  • Heat oven to 350 F, line a 9x13-inch baking pan with parchment paper or foil, letting a few inches hang over side of pan. Brush with oil.
  • Spread oats and sees on another baking pan and toast in oven just until golden and fragrant, 6 to 8 minutes, shaking pan once.
  • In a saucepan, combine oil, honey, brown sugar, maple syrup and salt. Stir over medium heat until smooth and hot.
  • In a mixing bowl, toss together toasted oats and seeds, dried fruit and cinnamon (or cardamom. Pour hot sugar mixture over and stir until well combined.
  • While mixture is warm, transfer to prepared pan, pressing into pan evenly with an offset spatula.
  • Bake until brown, 25 to 30 minutes. Transfer pan to a rack and let cool completely. Using the overhanging foil or paper, lift out of pan and place on a work surface. Cut into bars, about 1.5 inches by 3 inches.

2 comments:

  1. I made these using the recipe printed in the NYT. Tasty, but what a disaster! Even though I oiled the foil well, the "bars" stuck like superglue. I spent 30 minutes trying to pull of the foil. Then, I tasted them. I would never call them healthy. They are really sweet. If I was to make them again (which I won't), I would use way less sweetener.

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  2. Thank you for the comment. I used oiled parchment paper and did not have any issue peeling the bars off it. Sorry that you had problem with it.

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