Healthy Snack Bar Recipe

Welcome once again to this Health and Fitness blog. Here is another fascinating snippet of health related news for you to read all about:

I’ve been working on creating my own healthy snack bar recipe for some time now. It’s quite good! I thought I would share it with you today before I spend any more time experimenting. It could be months before I figure out the ingredient combination I like best.

 

I decided to come up with a recipe after finding a delicious snack bar made locally. It’s one of the tastiest snack bars I’ve ever had. The ingredients are a healthy mix of things such as peanut butter, oats, raisins, flax meal, etc. However, it’s a fair-sized, dense bar that can last me several days. Just a few bites are so filling! I don’t know what the calorie count might be but I’m sure it’s a LOT! So I decided I would to attempt to make my own lower calorie version.

I’ve mixed and matched all kinds of ingredients. The one I’ve come up with is not the same as the locally made version BUT it’s good. When I need just a little something, a healthy snack to tide me over, it hits the spot.

I now make up a batch of 12 snack bars once every 2-3 weeks or so. It only takes me about 15 minutes to measure, mix, spread out, and then cut and individually wrap each bar. No cooking necessary! I store the bars in the refrigerator but you can safely throw a wrapped bar in your purse if you are heading out and will be eating the bar within a few hours. The ingredients do not necessarily need refrigeration from what I can determine, on the other hand, storing in the refrigerator would be best to be on the safe side.

(Note: On a hot day the peanut butter could get messy if you are carrying one in your purse.)

Peanut Butter Snack Bar

Ingredients:

1/2 cup natural peanut butter

2 tbsp. honey

2 tsp. vanilla extract

2 tbsp. craisins

1/4 cup quick oats

3 tbsp. oat bran

2 tbsp dates (about 4 small dates such as Sunsweet or Sunmaid pitted dates NOT the higher calorie Medjool dates)

2 tbsp. sesame seeds

1 tbsp. millet seeds (these are good if you like crunchy otherwise omit)

2 tbsp. wheat germ

 

Directions:

Simply measure all ingredients into a small to medium size bowl. Mix well. Turn mixture out onto a cutting board or greased glass bread pan and spread out to about 1/2 inch thick. Cut into 12 uniform pieces and wrap individually with saran wrap.

Nutrition per bar:

120 total calories

5.2 grams of total fat

0.9 grams saturated fat

1.8 grams dietary fiber

3.9 grams protein

14.4 grams total carbohydrates

6.5 grams natural sugar

These snack bars are SMALL. They are about the size of one medium to small size cookie but bar shaped to hold together better. I see them as being about the size of a small Larabar (a snack size commercially made bar). So how does my recipe compare with my general guidelines for a healthy low calorie snack bars while on a low calorie diet? I’ll compare my recipe with Larabars, one of my current store bought favorites, to see how it stacks up.

In the article on low calorie nutrition bars, I suggest keeping calories to 100 or less for a snack. The peanut butter bars have about 120 so not too far off. Some Larabar snack bars have 90-100 calories so they do a bit better.

However, I then suggest looking for 3+ grams of dietary fiber, if possible. My homemade recipe has about 1.8 grams while the Larabars have about 2-3 grams. I also suggest choosing a snack bar with 2-4 grams of protein. This recipe provides almost 4 grams of protein per bar while a Larabar has 2-3 depending on the flavor.

So all in all I think I’ve done fairly well. I find having just one of these bars to be quite filling and satisfying despite the small size. I hope you’ll give this healthy snack bar recipe a try! Let me know what you think if you make it and what kind of modifications you try. After all, there are hundreds of possible variations on this basic theme. See what you come up with and enjoy!

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