This recipe has been in my archives for a while, so I thought I might pop it back into the line-up. There is a rolled oat version and a grain-free version. The caramel can be a little tricky to get right, so take your time, there are some tips at the end of the recipe.
Ingredients
Makes 24
For the oat version
2 cups rolled oats
3 cups mixed seeds, I have used linseed, pepita, sesame and sunflower
I cup chopped dried fruit, I used apricots and apples
1/2 cup peanut butter
1/2 cup golden syrup
1/2 cup caster sugar
100g olive oil
Place the oats and seeds on an oven tray, roast at 170 degrees C fan forced for about 20 minutes or until crunchy and golden.
Place the peanut butter, golden syrup, caster sugar and olive oil into a small pot, stir over a low heat until the sugar has melted, turn up the heat to bring it to a boil, turn the heat back down and simmer, stirring constantly for about five minutes or until very thick and caramelly, a word of warning here, this is where you decide how chewy your bars are going to be, you are, in effect making a caramel, too little cooking and your bars will be soft and not hold their shape, too much cooking and your bars will be hard like a toffee, a nice medium gloop is what we are looking for.
Pop the oat mixture and dried fruit into a large bowl, add the caramel, stir all around to combine and then tip into a large brownie tray lined with baking paper. I used a 40 x 22 cm straight sided rectangular slice tin. Press it out flat with your hand, pushing it into the corners and just making a big, flat mass.
Leave to set for an hour, use the baking paper to lift it out of the tin, cut into 24 pieces, when fully cold store in an airtight container in layers separated by greaseproof paper.
For the grain free version, substitute the rolled oats for one cup of quinoa flakes, added at the time of toasting just like the rolled oats, and one cup of quinoa puffs, added at the end when you combine everything. This one is a little more brittle than the oat version, so cut it just a tiny bit earlier if you want a very smooth edge.
Just a little follow up. I made this muesli bar again this morning, a cranberry and dried blueberry slab this time, and I had a lot of trouble with the caramel. At first I thought maybe I had rushed it, it was still gritty where the sugar had not dissolved and the caramel refused to thicken, instead choosing to burn while it remained a sloppy mess. I popped a spoonful onto a cold plate in the freezer to see what it would do and instead of forming a chewy clump it made a sort of gritty paste. That will never do! No way would that gritty, loose paste set in these muesli bars to form solid, cuttable bars. So I started again, took it more slowly this time, still I was having trouble getting the sugar to dissolve, so I took a closer look at the sugar and sure enough, it has had some moisture damage. Sugar is ascorbic, it sucks moisture out of the air, and once it does it can be very difficult to work with, to free it up I popped a couple of teaspoons of water into the caramel mixture to loosen it up and then cooked it out a little more at the end, the result was still a little gritty, but it was holding shape just fine and glued my muesli together with such enthusiasm I struggled to get it out of the bowl into the tray. So, little tip for today, give your sugar bag a squeeze before you take it off the supermarket shelf, if it has set into brick form, do not buy it, if it is a bit lumpy and stiff, proceed with caution. For this recipe, and indeed, any recipe that requires you to melt the sugar, free flowing, non moisture damaged sugar is essential! Happy cooking!
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