BlueSkies Recipes
Healthy Snack Bars Cherry & Coconut Flapjacks
Every now and then, we find recipes that we want to share with people and this is where they'll appear! We are not professional chefs but we do love our food and enjoy cooking so you can be assured that the recipes will be tasty as well as healthy (normally!).
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Happy cooking and happy eating!
Healthy Snack Bars
Ben loves his flapjacks but isn't quite so enamoured with their lack of nutritional value, saturated fat content and sugar content. Having looked at the labels of most of the other alternatives such as alledgedly healthy Cereal Bars, Low-Fat Flapjacks and Snack Bars, Sam decided she could do better!
So, taking into account Ben's love of flapjacks, honey and seeds, Sam created the Healthy Snack Bar! This bar has no added fat, is high in mono-unsaturated and poly-unsaturated fat, is low in saturated fat and contains only natural sugars. In addition, it contains oats which can help to lower cholesterol levels.
For the Healthy Snack Bars, you will need:
- 175g honey
- 75g oats
- 35g sunflower seeds
- 35g pumpkin seeds
- 30g sesame seeds
- 40g ground almonds
- 20g flaked almonds
- 100g chopped dried fruit such as apricots, raisins, cranberries or figs
- a 19cm round, shallow tray (foil ones work best as they can be cut!)
To make the Healthy Snack Bars couldn't be simpler. Pre-heat the oven to 200 degrees centigrade and then:
- Place the honey in a mixing bowl along with the chopped dried fruit and heat in the microwave until runny
- Add all of the other ingredients and mix thoroughly
- Transfer the mixture to the tray and firmly press it down to compact it
- Place in the oven for 15 - 20 minutes until it is golden brown
- Remove from oven and allow to cool
- Cut into 6-8 bars
The approximate nutritional value of 1/8 of the final product is:
- 260 calories
- 6.4g protein (9.8%)
- 32g carbohydrate (49.2%)
- 11.3g fat (39%)
- 1.4g saturates
- 4.7g mono-unsaturates
- 4.8g poly-unsaturates
This recipe makes a fairly firm bar, if you'd prefer a more moist bar then use more honey or slightly less of the dry ingredients. Linseeds also work as well as sesame seeds.
Cherry & Coconut Flapjacks
Carrying on with a theme....a healthy alternative to traditional flapjacks but with the same texture! Sam has tried all manner of flapjack alternatives in order to satisfy Ben's cravings - this one is the first to make it onto the website - watch out for more though!
The Cherry and Coconut Flapjacks are low in fat (for flapjacks!), they contain mostly natural sugars (Glace cherries aside!) and the oats can help to lower cholesterol levels.
For the Cherry and Coconut Flapjacks, you will need:
- 160g honey
- 80g low-fat olive spread
- 30g desiccated coconut
- 160g oats
- 50g glace cherries, chopped
- a 19cm round, shallow tray (foil ones work best as they can be cut!)
The Cherry and Coconut Flapjacks are simple to make. Pre-heat the oven to 175 degrees centigrade and then:
- Place the honey and low-fat spread in a mixing bowl along with the cherries and heat in the microwave until runny
- Add the oats and coconut and mix thoroughly
- Transfer the mixture to the tray and firmly press it down to compact it
- Place in the oven for 15-20 minutes until it is golden brown
- Remove from oven and allow to cool
- Cut into 6-8 bars
The approximate nutritional value of 1/8 of the final product is:
- 220 calories
- 3.9g protein (7.1%)
- 34.8g carbohydrate (63.3%)
- 7.3g fat (29.9%)
- 3.2g saturates
- 2.6g mono-unsaturates
- 1.1g poly-unsaturates
This bar makes a low-fat flapjack. However, to further reduce the saturated fat content and improve the fat profile you can replace some, or all, of the coconut with oats or alternatively with ground or flaked almonds. If cherries are not your thing, you could also replace these with dried fruit of any kind.