Serves: Makes about 15 - Time:
A toothsome, tasty bar for packing in a lunchbox or even for a quick energy breakfast on the move. Trail bars, if you haven’t already come across the name, are basically flapjacks with extras added to create a bar which will sustain you on the toughest hike. These bars need to be thoroughly cold before lifting out of the tin or they will fall apart. You can buy gluten-free oats so that the bars suit coeliacs. Just don’t use the jumbo oats-the bars will be too crumbly. I suppose you could cover the bars with melted chocolate but let’s try and pretend they are slightly wholesome.
Ingredients
- 250g porridge oats
- 100g sultanas
- 90g mixed seeds
- 55g desiccated coconut
- 50g ground almonds
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 150ml maple syrup
- 125g unsalted butter plus extra for greasing
- 125g soft brown sugar
- 60g smooth almond butter
Method
- Heat oven to fan oven 170˚c, mark 5. Grease and base line a 23x23cm cake tin with non-stick baking parchment. Place the first 6 dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and stir to mix.
- Put the maple syrup, butter and sugar in a saucepan and place over a low heat. Stir until thoroughly combined and warm but don’t let the mixture boil. Stir in the almond butter.Pour into the dry ingredients and mix well. Tip into the prepared tin and press down to smooth the surface and pack the mixture tightly. Bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until evenly golden brown. Cut into squares or rectangles while still warm but leave in the tin to cool completely. Once cooled and firm lift out of the tin and store in an airtight container. These bars will keep for a week.
