By Genevieve Ko, The New York Times
There’s the fantasy of summer snacking — savoring wild berries and a hunk of freshly baked sourdough, maybe on a rocky outlook or sandy dune — and then there’s the reality of tearing open a store-bought snack bar and shoving it down for sustenance on a hike or after a swim. The flavor’s rarely interesting enough to register beyond sweet, and the texture, often chewy the way you’d imagine melted plastic would be, rarely brings to mind real food.
Just because snack bars are undeniably convenient doesn’t mean they can’t satisfy like a great homemade dish, with a riot of textures and hits of salty and sweet. That’s why you should be making your own.
It may sound like a project, but this five-ingredient recipe for homemade protein bars comes together in less than 15 minutes, doesn’t require turning on the oven and chills in the refrigerator to set. Its greatest appeal, though, is how it combines the crackle of nuts and the creaminess of nut butter with earthy maple syrup. A fat pinch of salt and a touch of pepper bring out the toasty bittersweetness of so many nuts.
Mixing the ingredients and pressing them into a pan is simple. Coming up with the right proportions and technique is a little less so. It took a dozen tries to nail down a no-bake formula that wasn’t too sugary but still held together with different add-ins.
For more tips on how to get homemade bars to adhere, I reached out to Susie Theodorou, a food stylist and author who sometimes works with New York Times Cooking. Even before she created recipes for her “No-Cook Cookbook,” she experimented with no-bake bars and found that blending plump dried fruits like dates, figs and apricots bound bars well. When I told her I wanted to make protein bars that leaned savory, she suggested skipping the fruit because nut butter provides the moisture the fruit would.
But nut butter isn’t sticky enough to glue dry ingredients on its own (and it’s a boring one-note flavor solo), so I boiled down maple syrup into a tacky base with butterscotch depth. Once the blend simmers into smooth ribbons, it can seal oats, nuts and seeds into a slab with a Goldilocks texture: not too crunchy, not too chewy, but with a just-right crispness.
To keep the bars from crumbling, it’s important to use quick-cooking oats, which are flatter and smaller than old-fashioned ones. Chopping nuts into pebbly bits also helps, as does completely coating the dry ingredients before pressing the mix firmly into the pan. If you’re using almond butter, you’ll need more of it — even the smoothest almond butter is grainier than peanut butter.
The black pepper sharpens the syrup’s caramel roundness, but try ground chipotle or other dried chiles for a smoky heat. There’s plenty of salt, but if you want even more, sprinkle flakes on top before chilling. From there, feel free to customize the nuts and seasoning, being sure to keep the ratios the same, and you’ll have a snack as special as any summer treat.
Homemade Protein Bars
Making your own protein bars may sound like a project, but this recipe comes together quickly and doesn’t require turning on the oven. Its greatest appeal, though, is how it combines the crackle of nuts and the creaminess of nut butter with earthy maple syrup. A fat pinch of salt and a touch of pepper bring out the nuts’ toasty bittersweetness. The black pepper sharpens the syrup’s caramel roundness, but try ground chipotle or other dried chiles for a smoky heat. There’s plenty of salt, but if you want even more, sprinkle flakes on top before chilling. Feel free to customize the nuts and seasoning: Just be sure to keep the ratios the same.
By Genevieve Ko
Yield: 12 bars
Total time: 1 hour, 15 minutes
Ingredients
1/2 cup/167 grams pure maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt 1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper 3/4 cup/217 grams almond butter or 1/2 cup/145 grams peanut butter (see tip) 1 1/4 cups/122 grams quick-cooking oats 1 1/4 cups/150 grams finely chopped pecans, walnuts, almonds, pistachios, cashews or peanuts or a combination (see tip) 1/2 cup/74 grams pepitas (shelled pumpkin seeds)Preparation
1. Line the bottom and sides of a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper.
2. Bring the syrup, salt and pepper to a boil over medium-high in a large saucepan, stirring occasionally. Boil until thickened to the consistency of honey, about 2 minutes. Turn the heat down to low, add the almond butter, and stir until smooth and bubbles just start to pop, about 1 minute longer. Turn off the heat.
3. Add the oats, nuts and seeds, and stir until everything is very evenly coated. Smash and scrape the mixture as needed to get everything coated; the mixture will be quite stiff.
4. Scrape the mixture into the parchment-lined pan and press firmly into an even layer. Refrigerate until stiff, at least 1 hour and up to overnight.
5. Use the parchment to slide the slab out of the pan and onto a cutting board. Cut into 12 even bars. Wrap individually, if you’d like. The bars will keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in the refrigerator for up to 2 weeks.
Tips
Peanut butter binds ingredients best, but almond butter works as well. You just need more of it to glue the bars together. Sunflower seed butter can be used, but the bars may crumble. Tahini isn’t quite sticky enough to do the job. All-natural varieties, in which the only ingredients are the nuts or seeds and salt (and, sometimes, oil), deliver the nuttiest flavor.
You can use any variety or combination of your favorite nuts. Just make sure they’re raw, or natural, without added oils or salt. Also make sure that they’re chopped small enough so that the bars will hold. Pre-chopped walnuts and pecans and sliced almonds make this recipe come together even more quickly.
Energy Bars
With a top as craggy as a rocky hiking trail, these homemade energy bars combine a generous helping of nuts and dried fruit with just a bit of batter to bind them. A little sweet from maple syrup and chewy fruit, these bars also get a touch of saltiness to highlight the toasty flavor of the nuts. Use your favorite blends and try swapping the cinnamon for other spices you like. Sturdy but by no means tough, these treats hold up in backpacks, pockets or any way you need to tote them.
By Genevieve Ko
Yield: 10 bars
Total time: 1 1/2 hours
Ingredients
Nonstick cooking spray 2 large eggs 1/4 cup/65 grams maple syrup 1/2 teaspoon coarse kosher or sea salt, plus more for sprinkling 1/4 cup/32 grams whole wheat flour 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon 1 1/2 cups/138 grams coarsely chopped walnuts, pecans, pistachios or a combination 1 1/2 cups/245 grams coarsely chopped dates, dried apricots, dried cranberries or a combinationPreparation
1. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Using cooking spray, grease an 8-inch square metal baking pan. Line the bottom and sides with foil or parchment paper and grease the foil.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, syrup and salt until smooth. Add the flour and cinnamon and whisk until smooth. Add the nuts and dried fruit and mix until evenly coated, then spread in an even layer in the pan.
3. Bake until set and golden brown, about 30 minutes. When you press the top, it should feel firm. Immediately sprinkle lightly with salt.
4. Cool completely in the pan on a rack. Use the foil to slide the slab out of the pan; discard the foil. Cut in half, then cut each half into 5 bars. The bars can be kept in an airtight container for up to a week at room temperature or up to a month in the freezer.
Granola Bites
These chewy-crunchy, salty-sweet breakfast balls are great for eating on the go because they don’t crumble and leave a mess. They take minutes to blend and a few more to roll, but if you make them a friends-and-family cooking project, the process can go even faster. Feel free to experiment here. You can swap out the almonds for cashews, the cherries for other dried fruits, and the sunflower seeds for shelled pumpkin seeds. Just keep the dates and make sure they’re Medjool, which are softer and more thin-skinned than other varieties. The dates are the glue that hold the other ingredients together.
By Genevieve Ko
Yield: About 2 dozen
Total time: 20 minutes
Ingredients
1 1/2 packed cup/205 grams pitted, stemmed Medjool dates 1 cup/140 grams roasted, salted almonds 1/4 cup/60 milliliters maple syrup 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt 1/2 cup/75 grams dried cherries 1/2 cup/45 grams old-fashioned oats 1/2 cup/70 grams raw shelled sunflower seeds 1/3 cup/35 grams unsweetened finely shredded coconutPreparation
1. Line a work surface or baking sheet with parchment or wax paper.
2. Pulse dates, almonds, maple syrup, vanilla and salt in a food processor until the mixture forms big sticky clumps. You want chunks of nuts left. Pulse in cherries, oats and sunflower seeds, scraping the bowl occasionally, until the mixture forms a shaggy mass around the blade.
3. Put the coconut in a shallow dish. Use a 1-ounce (1 1/2-tablespoon) cookie scoop or a heaping tablespoon to scoop the mixture into about 24 mounds and place on the parchment paper. Roll the scoops into balls.
4. Roll each ball in the coconut to coat completely, then transfer to an airtight container. Sprinkle any leftover coconut over the balls. Refrigerate until ready to eat.
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The balls can be refrigerated in the airtight container for up to 1 week.
This article originally appeared in The New York Times.
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