Oat Bar Recipe

I try not to eat grains much these days, but this is a good recipe for decent oat bars that will cost next to nothing. This is just a base recipe and you are free to add your own fruit, nuts, whatever you want really. It takes time to get the mixture to you're liking and you really want to avoid making them too moist.

General Ingredients:
2 cups QUICK COOKING oats
1/2 cup honey, grade A maple syrup, agave nectar, or jam
1 egg or 3 egg whites
1/2 tsp baking powder
1 cup wheat flour
2 TBSP butter, more depending on how you like it
Chopped nuts
Sea Salt to taste
Fruit if you want it.

Heat the oven to 350. Toast the oats for 10 to 15 minutes. It is important to use the quick instant oats because the other varities will clog up your guts and back you up pretty bad from all the fiber.

Remove the oats, combine above in a mixing bowl. If you're using fruit you're going to want to put that in a food processor first and you will have to establish your fruit to liquid ratio. Put nuts in the processor or use pre-chopped nuts. I prefer almonds or cashews.

I liked using agave nectar and various forms of berries and I generally cut the liquid in half when I added fruit. I also added dried fruit, which doesn't require you to process it or deal with halving the liquid.

Mix it together. Use more sea salt than you'd think since you won't taste it and it will help with hydration.

Put in baking dish. Bake for 12 to 20 minutes (it depends on what you put in there). Periodically check and remove when they begin to get firm on the top layer.

Another variant of this recipe requires one to cut the liquid back to 1/4 cup and the other 1/4 cup will be peanut butter or almond butter. This will add a bit of fat, but perhaps make it more balanced for a pre-ride or longer ride bar.

Put in whatever wrapping you want to use and put in the fridge. I'd go through 6 of these in a day when touring in the Alps and they were quite good after perfecting the recipe a bit. It takes tweaking, but each batch should only cost $2 to $4, which is a fraction of what an equivalent box of bars cost. You have to add the macronutrients up yourself because adding fruit or nut butters will change the ratio, but each bar is generally between 30 and 60 grams of carbs, 5g of fiber, 6g of fat, and 200mg of sodium.