cereal bars are an excellent choice for breakfast or snack. if you want to be truly "organic" and healthy, then it is best to check carefully their content, not to be fooled, because many contain many unhealthy fats, refined white sugar, dyes, chemicals, etc...
best cereal bars are home made, baked or even raw, without any thermal preparation.
today we make these vegetarian bars with dried fruits (apples, blueberries, pineapple-dehydrated raisins), almonds, cashews and hazelnuts ground, in the version without fire. why do i choose this option? because it's the only way to keep the properties of ingredients intact (cereals, nuts, extra virgin coconut oil) and does not change the glycemic index of sweet components (agaves syrup, corn flakes, fruit).
the cold preparation requires the use of coconut butter, which is solid at room temperature. extra virgin coconut butter is very healthy and has a pleasant aroma. it will allow consistency and help shape a rectangular form very quickly.
ingredients:
-virgin coconut-butter
-integral oat flakes
- whole wheat flakes
-dry wheat-germ
-agaves syrup
-ground-nuts (hazelnuts, walnuts, cashews, almonds, etc.)
-dried fruits (cranberries, apple pieces, raisins, etc.)
-optional jam or dry orange peel (attention, they can not be considered as "raw vegan", so use them unless you want a strictly raw recipe)
this is how the virgin coconut butter and agave syrup look like:
for 5-6 large cereals, sticks add 3 tablespoons of coconut butter.
add all of the other ingredients one by one: the orange peel jam (or candied orange peel), integral flakes, dried fruits.
after adding each ingredient, mix well. add agaves syrup to sweeten. the quantities depend on your taste and imagination.
it is a very simple recipe, so put the ingredients by taste and it will come out perfectly :).
grind the nuts and dried apples in a blender.
add in the above composition and mix well.
this is how the composition looks like in the end: very consistent and bound. prepare a mixture of grains to "powder" the sticks in the end.
to get some more nice bars, you should use plastic wrap for food . cut a piece of foil and place it on the table. cover with a layer of corn flakes.
shape a stick with the hands, then place it on foil and flatten well. the bars should not be very thin, because they will break. then sprinkle cereals for a nice final look.
roll the foil around the bar and put it in the refrigerator.
bars wrapping can be handled with a kitchen palette, because otherwise they can break (when hand shaping the butter melts and loses some consistency, but will recover completely in the refrigerator). so, to be cautious, roll each stick with the palette and place it on a plate, which then will get cold.
after several hours, the coconut butter is solid, the bars are not fragile anymore and can be served,
they are excellent for breakfast with a cup of milk (for vegetarians, try almond milk).
coconut and orange fragrance make a successful marriage and the dried sweet-sour blueberries complement the taste perfectly.
these are delicious and very healthy, and the recipe is so easy that even children can do it!
bon appetit!