Recipe: Oatmeal tahini energy bars

You may be familiar with tahini from hits such as hummus and baba ghanoush, but the sesame seed paste also works wonderfully in a sweeter recipe. Tahini, mixed with the nuts and seeds in these bars, is a good source of protein and will help fill you up while the dried fruit and oats give you energy to push harder on the ride.

Oatmeal tahini energy bars are easy to make, nutritious and surprisingly filling. They work well as fuel during a ride, or as a post-ride snack to give you the energy to cook yourself a meal.

The nuts/seeds and dried fruits in these bars can be substituted and switched around for pretty much anything (apricots, coconut chips, pistachios, chocolate chunks etc.) as long as you keep the ratio of dried to wet goods approximately the same.

Ingredients:
– 2 cups rolled oats
– 1 cup of nuts/seed (e.g. Almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds)
– ½ cup of dried fruit (e.g. Raisins, goji berries, dried blueberries)
– 1 tsp. cinnamon
– ¼ tsp. Kosher salt
– 1 cup pitted dates
– ⅓ cup tahini
– ¼ cup maple syrup
– ½ tsp. vanilla

Step 1: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Toast the oats on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper for about 12-13 minutes or until they begin to turn golden. Stir the oats about half-way through toasting.

Step 2: Toss in your nuts and seeds in the oven on a tray lined with parchment paper as the oats are toasting. They will most likely cook much faster than the oats (done in around 5-6 minutes depending on the mix you have), so keep an eye on them for signs of browning.

Step 3: Roughly chop your nuts and seeds.

Step 4: Mix the oatmeal, nuts, dried fruit and salt and cinnamon in a bowl

Step 5: Use a food processor or blender to blend the dates, tahini, maple syrup and vanilla extract. Blend until smooth.

Step 6: Fold the blended mix into the dried mixture. The resulting blend will be quite sticky but try and evenly mix, using a wooden spoon or fork, until it can be moved as one solid mass and all elements are integrated.

Step 7: Line a brownie pan with parchment paper and pour the mixture into it.

Step 8: Push down hard on the mixture, making sure to flatten the corners and sides. Use another piece of parchment paper if you want to avoid sticky hands.

Step 9: Refrigerate the pan for 2 hours.

Step 10: Cut the rectangle into bars. The energy bars will stay fresh the longest if refrigerated. Wrap them in beeswax wraps or parchment paper and they’ll be good to join you on your ride.