Happy Canadian Thanksgiving everyone! We have so much to be thankful for! We’ve spent the weekend at my brother’s cottage up in the Muskoka’s and it was lovely even if the weather was not. Over the years we’ve had so many different experiences, from shorts n’T boat rides, to chilly walks in the country to snow flurries! Yes indeed, snow flurries. In October! This year there wasn’t snow but it was rainy and chilly, perfect for staying inside by a roaring wood fire and perhaps baking a thing or two!
When I first made these bars I wasn’t able to source puffed quinoa, even-so the original bar was tasty and full of texture. Since that first time, I have been able to source puffed quinoa as well I’ve made some other adjustments to the recipe: I replaced brown sugar with coconut sugar and have omitted the chocolate chips adding vanilla extract instead. Also, I added egg whites as the binder so it’s not as crumbly as the first go round. If you’re so inclined, you can dip one half into good quality dark chocolate.
Puffed Quinoa Bars
Makes 1 33 cm x 23 cm (9″ x 13″) pan of bars about 1 cm or 1/2″ thick.
Ingredients:
- 60 g (2 cups) commercially puffed quinoa (like puffed rice)
- 140 g (1 cup) unsalted sunflower seeds, slightly roasted in a frying pan
- 180 g (2 cups) uncooked oatmeal, old-fashioned or instant
- 45 g (1/4 cup) partly ground flax seeds
- 60 g (1/2 cup) dried cranberries or other dried fruit
- 120 g (1/2 cup) coconut sugar
- 125 mL (1/2 cup) agave syrup or honey
- 30 mL (2 tbsp) molasses
- 60 mL (4 tbsp) egg whites
- 15 mL (1 tbsp) vanilla
- 63 mL (1/4 cup) water
- 2 mL (1/2 tsp) salt
Directions:
- Pre-heat the oven to 350° F (177° C ).
- Prepare a 33 cm x 23 cm (9″ x 13″) pan by lining it with parchment paper, enough to have the sides come up as handles.
- Combine dry ingredients in a bowl. Combine wet ingredients and whisk thoroughly to combine.
- Pour into the dry ingredients into the wet and mix well (I used a very large bowl with a wooden spoon). You want to make sure that everything is coated with the wet ingredients.
- Pour the combined ingredients into the prepared pan and press evenly into all corners (I used a glass as a rolling pin). Bake for about 20 minutes.
- Carefully remove from the pan with the parchment handles onto a cutting board and cut into 20 bars. Place onto a parchment lined cookie sheet and continue to bake for 12 minutes or until lightly browned. I wanted a crunchy bar and not a soft chewy one, if you would prefer a soft chewy bar, skip this bake step.
- Allow to cool completely before storing in an airtight container in the refrigerator or freezer.
Notes:
Depending on how dry your house is, you may need to adjust the wet ingredients as the final product can be a bit crumbly.
I made them & loved every bite & bar! My husband Peter loved them too!
👍👍👍👍👍
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Where did you find the puffed quinoa? These look and sound great. As you know, I don’t eat chocolate, so even better that it was removed in this version. I hope you had a wonderful holiday Eva!
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Thank you kindly Kristy. I found it at the St. Laurence market which is an amazing market built inbthe 20s. Next time you come to TO, ill take you!
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Somehow I missed this post, but happy belated Thanksgiving, Eva. These bars look great. I love the low calorie count for an energy bar. I’d probably have to dip mine in chocolate…just because you mentioned it! 😉
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I was tempted for sure Betsy.
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Damn delicious and healthy snack!!!
worth to try recipe, great job my friend…
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Thanks so much Dedy.
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I’m not sure I’ve seen puffed quinoa — I’ll have to look for it. I’m a sucker for coconut, so I always love seeing it in recipes. Hope you had a great Thanksgiving!
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I hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving, Eva, electric gizmos notwithstanding. 🙂
I have to smile whenever I see a quinoa recipe. I still haven’t tried it. Oh, I have prepared it — for my parrot, Hence the smile. I just never think of it when I’m meal planning. Well, unless it’s Lucy’s dinners. I really do want to make and try it. My quinoa foibles aside, you’ve created a pretty good looking bar here. Replacing the brown sugar with coconut was a great idea, adding some flavor to the bars while making them healthier in the process.
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that packs such flavor and energy! I love the crunch to the quinoa.
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Thanks Jessica.
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Happy Thanksgiving! It seems you have had wonderful time. It’s funny but for a long time I wasn’t able to find puffed rice here while puffed quinoa (I suppose more fashionable) was sold even in my “standard” Swiss supermarket.
Your bars look fantastic and remind me of the puffed rice bars I wasn’t able to make for a long time… (I don’t bake mine though).
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Thanks so much Sissi, we don’t see my brother’s family all that often so for the most part we do enjoy the time with them. That’s interesting that you have puffed quinoa and not puffed rice.
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Hope you had a spectacular Thanksgiving, Eva! Since ours is a month later, we always have chilly weather…and hunkering down around the fire sounds wonderful. I need to look for puffed quinoa as these are the best looking healthy bars I’ve seen…as I’m a big sucker for seedy treats!
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Thanks Liz, it was a lovely family filled weekend. That’s one of the nice things of having thanksgiving a little earlier is the wishfulness of good weather.
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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving Eva!! 😀 These bars look great. I saw some puffed quinoa at the store the other day and was wondering what I could do with it and there you pop up with this recipe! We must be in sync 😀
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Thanks Lorraine, I think some people eat the puffed quinoa like puffed rice cereal too.
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Happy Thanksgiving, Eva. I’m glad you had a good time away with family. What great looking bars and I think replacing brown sugar with coconut sugar is an excellent idea. I love the flavour coconut sugar brings to recipes xx
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Thanks Charlie, yes I’m really trying to make an effort to switch up the sugar more than not.
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Happy Thanksgiving Eva! So happy to hear/see that you are enjoying it to the fullest. I’m loving all the autumn colors from home that I’m seeing on social media. Such a glorious time of year.
Well, you know how much I love bars… I have to sit on my hands sometimes not to keep posting them consecutively on the blog 😉 — you’ve put together a really nice version here — although I usually use nut or seed butter for adhesion, the egg is cooked in this case so a nice option indeed. Love the flecks of cranberry poking through – so colorful and autumn beautiful. Puffed quinoa is very versatile and now you can find virtually any grain in ‘puffed’ form which is fun for switching things up and accommodating dietary preferences, etc. So many options, so little time :O).
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Thanks so much Kelly I really appreciate the kind compliments. I was thinking about nut butter but I really wanted to bake them so they would be crispy, perhaps next time I’ll try one of your delightful raw bars.
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Very nice madam, verrry nice!
I think I will be so inclined to dip these suckers in chocolate 🙂
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I so thought you would Dana.
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Happy Thanksgiving, Eva. Delicious. A sweet and healthy granola type bar would be a nice introduction to quinoa for the hesitant. 🙂
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Thanks Maria, this would be a good intro because it masks the unusual texture that turns newbie’s off.
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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving 😀
Sounds like you had a lovely time! These bars would be perfect for uni, full of energy but tasty too!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
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Thanks CCU. they would be great to take to Uni for a healthy snack.
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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving! Love quinoa but was not aware of puffed quinoa definitely keeping an eye out for them. Your bars look great and is healthy going to make them as soon as I get some puffed quinoa.
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Hi Norma, it’s kind of like puffed rice. Thank you, it was a very nice family filled weekend even if they weather wasn’t as good.
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Happy Canadian Thanksgiving to you and yours, Eva!
These quinoa energy bars look fantastic.
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Thanks so much Angie, it was a lovely family weekend.
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