Monday, July 16, 2012

Snackles: Marty's Breakfast Bars

I love carbs. I love bread. I love cake. I love cookies, scones, biscuits, croissants, pastries...if it's verboten on a low-carb diet, I like it. A lot. My family's French (Canadian) and Italian: it's just in my blood.

(Within the world of carbohydrates I also love pasta, but that is for another post.)

Any morning worth having must start with tea and toast. Or tea and cereal. Or tea and some type of baked good. Those are the best kind of days. I have a fabulous recipe for scones, many tried-and-true coffee cakes, and all the muffins you could wish for but sometimes, a girl's got to try and keep thy beloved carbs as healthy as possible.

Enter stage right: Marty's Breakfast Bars.

Originally from a magazine (Taste of Home, mayhap?) this recipe comes to me via my Mom's best friend's sister.  It is both decently healthy and tasty. Perhaps best of all, it's very customizable. Any kind of dried fruit, nut, and chocolate can be used. You can even swap the molasses for alternative sweeteners; I've used both agave and maple syrup and had great results. (Who doesn't love maple anyways?) Also, honey - but I don't like honey. I'm sure it would work though.

Past successful / future potential combinations include:
  • cranberry, pecan, semi-sweet chocolate, molasses
  • apricot, almond, white chocolate chip, maple syrup 
  • mango, macadamia nuts, white chocolate, agave
  •  cherry, walnut, dark chocolate chunks
 This evening's batch are mixed fruit (blueberry, cranberry, cherry), pecan walnut, white chocolate.

  Marty's Breakfast Bars 

Some ingredients gathered
1/2 cup butter or margarine
1 1/4 cups packed brown sugar
2 eggs
1/2 molasses (or other sugar sub)
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
1 tsp cinnamon
2 cups oatmeal
1/2 chopped walnuts (almonds, pecans, etc)
1 cup raisins, dried cherries, cranberries, apricots, etc
  1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (etc)
the Ninja in action


Combine butter, sugar, eggs, and molasses in a large mixing bowl. Stir together flour, soda, salt, and cinnamon; add to first mixture and stir to mix well.

Stir in oatmeal, nuts, dried fruit, and chocolate. Spoon into a greased 13x9 baking pan and bake in a 400 degree oven for 12-15 minutes or until done (it always takes longer!) Cut into bars to serve.


Action shot

 
These bars are great for breakfast, after lunch, or even dessert.  I wrap them in plastic wrap then foil and freeze them in individual squares to save them for later (and prevent myself from eating them for every meal).






Ta-daaa!
Enjoy with hot beverage of your choice
 

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