Muesli bars are the perfect snack for university, the office or for a snack while shopping. However, the bars often don't really have much to do with muesli - chocolate, sugar and syrup turn the supposedly healthy snack into a real calorie trap. And even if you don't take calories very seriously, it's worth reading on. Because by making your own bars, you can go wild with the ingredients and create muesli bars to suit YOUR taste. No more disappointment when you end up with raisins instead of chocolate chips. And it's cheaper too!
There are two ways to make your muesli bar. You can either bake it the traditional way like a cookie or opt for the "raw" version - where the ingredients remain raw.
1) Date-based raw bar
For a natural date-based bar, you need around 300 g dates, 100 g cashews, 100 g almonds and - if you like - our unroasted cocoa nibs. For a sweeter version, you can use chocolate drops with xylitol as an alternative to the nibs.
Once you have chopped everything as small as possible, put all the ingredients in a powerful blender. If you don't have a blender to hand, you can simply put all the ingredients in a well-sealed plastic bag and roll with a rolling pin until you have a fine, slightly crumbly powder. If the mixture is too dusty, you can add a little more water. If you like, you can stir in a tablespoon of honey to make it stickier. Then shape the mixture into evenly long sausages and place them on a baking tray or other surface from which they can be easily removed. Carefully flatten them with a spoon to form a bar shape. It is best to place the bars in the fridge for a few hours afterwards so that they firm up nicely. The raw bars will keep in the fridge for around 4-5 days, depending on the ingredients.
Tip:
For a more exotic flavor, you can also use coconut chips or cranberries instead of cocoa nibs.
2) Baked crunchy bars
For the crunchy version with baking, you need 200 g of various nuts. It tastes best if you use cashews, almonds and hazelnuts together. Add 200 g of coarse rolled oats, which you can roast and caramelize with a little honey beforehand if you like. You can add dried fruit as desired. For a better hold, we recommend coconut oil or another source of fat, as well as an egg white. As with the raw version, you should mix or chop the ingredients until they are crumbly and have a firm but fine consistency. Now place the mixture on a baking tray lined with baking paper, where you can spread and spread it out until it is the same height everywhere. Then bake the bar mixture for about 25 minutes in the oven at 180 degrees convection oven on the middle shelf so that it becomes hard and crunchy. Once you have taken the tray out of the oven, you can cut the mixture into bars. It works best if you divide them into equal-sized rectangles while they are still lukewarm and separate them slightly so that all sides can cool down. After cooling, you should store the bars in a dry place - preferably in an airtight box. This will keep the muesli bars fresh for about a week.
Tip:
If you like it extravagant, you can also try a salty version. Simply use salted nuts for this!
