Muesli Energy Bars

It was the first thing my mom clients asked me to develop when I started my bakery in 2006, and it ended up filling an entire chapter in my first cookbook, Sweet Debbie's Organic Treats: Allergy-free & Vegan Recipes from the Famous Los Angeles Bakery. Energy Bars! When you walk up and down the aisles of any store, there are hundreds of bars beckoning to be grabbed on the go and eaten. But when you take a closer look at the labels, they are usually filled with nuts, sugar and hydrolyzed soy proteins. None of which are good ingredients for anybody let alone folks with food allergies.

So once in a while, when I have the energy, I'm inspired to bake up some more energy bars. Here's a doozy! I incorporated as many antioxidant-rich seeds that I could get my hands on. That plus the crunch of the buckwheat groats and smooth sunflower seed butter makes this one my favorites thus far. 

Muesli Hi-Energy Bars

By Debbie Adler

Makes 16 Bars

Must Have
Sheet of parchment paper slightly larger than 8 x 8 inches
1¾ cups gluten-free oats
1/2 cup raw pepitas
1/4 cup raw sunflower seeds
3 tablespoons hemp seeds
3 tablespoons chia seeds
3 tablespoons raw buckwheat groats
¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
1/3 cup coconut nectar
1/3 cup sunflower seed butter
¼ cup dried cranberries
1/4 cup raisins

Must Do
Preheat oven to 325°F. Line an 8 x 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, with a little extra over the sides.
Mix together the oats, pepitas, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, chia seeds, buckwheat groats and salt in a food processor.
Add the coconut nectar, sunflower seed butter, cranberries and raisins and pulse until combined.
Spoon the batter into the prepared pan and smooth it into the corners and on top with a wet baking spatula to cover the pan evenly.
Bake for 24 to 25 minutes, or until the oats are a light golden brown. Rotate the pan from front to back halfway through baking.
Remove the pan from the oven to a wire rack and let sit for about 15 minutes before putting in the freezer for at least 1 hour.
Transfer the parchment paper to a cutting board and cut into 16 bars.
Wrap each bar individually in parchment paper or bakery tissue paper, place in sealable plastic bag and keep frozen until ready to pack or eat.

Nutrition Information Per Serving (1 bar): 100 calories, 6 g total fat, 0.0 mg cholesterol, 19 g carbohydrates, 40 mg sodium, 2 g fiber, 2 g protein, 4 g sugars