Healthy muesli bars

Wholesome and nutritious without all the sugar and preservatives you’ll find in store brought bars. Feel free to make the bars without the chocolate glaze, although it does go down a treat if you are exercising or have a busy day.

Ingredients:

Muesli bars

• 1 cup whole almonds, divided
• 1 cup walnuts, divided
• 1 ½ cup old fashion oats, divided
• ¼ cup ground flax
• 2 Tablespoons chia seeds
• ½ cup coconut flakes
• ¼ cup honey
• ¼ cup coconut oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 Tablespoons almond butter

• 1 Tablespoon coconut oil
• 1 cup dark chocolate chopped
• Chopped walnuts,
• Coconut flakes

Method:

In a food processor, add a ½ cup of almonds, ½ cup of walnuts, and ¾ cup of the oats. Process until it turns into a fine powder, about 1 minute. (Be careful not to over process, you don’t want it to start sticking together.)

Roughly chop the remaining almonds and walnuts. Add them to a large bowl along with the remaining ¾ cup oats and the processed powder.

Add to the bowl the ground flax, chia seeds, and coconut flakes. Toss together.

Heat a small pan on the stove over medium heat. Add the honey, coconut oil, vanilla essence, cinnamon, and the almond butter. Stir constantly until everything is fully melted and begins to foam. Allow it to foam and bubble for about a minute before immediately pouring it over the nuts and oats mixture.

Using a spatula, stir everything together until it’s evenly distributed.

Preheat oven to 180C and line a 30×20 cm baking tin with baking paper, enough to hang over two of the sides.

Pour the muesli mixture into the pan and spread evenly. Press the mixture down hard (If you don’t press down so that it’s very tight, then when you go to cut them later, they’ll just fall apart on you.)

Bake in the oven for 10-15 minutes, until firm. Remove and allow to cool completely.

Choclate galze 

To make the chocolate glaze, melt the coconut oil in a small saucepan over medium-low heat. Add the chocolate chips, and stir often while they continue to melt until it becomes a perfectly smooth glaze.

Pour it over the bars and using a spatula, spread it to the edges and even it out.

Sprinkle the top with additional walnuts and coconut flakes if desired.

Allow the top to set the chop into bars and enjoy.