Presumably many of you are heading back to work or school after this weekend, so I thought I'd give you a little something sweet you could pack along with you. These little bars are absolutely loaded with seeds: quinoa, chia, sunflower seeds are the main stars, and flax seeds play a supporting role.
The bars are held together with a mixture of almond butter and date syrup. Date syrup, yo! It's a great natural sweetener made from nothing but dates which have been stewed and pressed. It's got a dark colour similar to molasses, and great natural caramelly flavour. If you don't have date syrup handy you could try subbing in honey or brown rice syrup, though I have not tested these bars with those sweeteners.
Think of these as a super seedy protein packed naturally sweetened energy bar. All those seeds bring lots of good nutrition to the table, like omega-3 fatty acids, protein, and dietary fiber. It's important to remember they're also pretty energy dense, so these are not intended for snacking on sedentary days.
Can I tell you who is not going to be having a sedentary day tomorrow? My lunatic husband. Paul, together with his racing partner Björn, is going to be tackling what has been touted as one of the toughest one-day endurance races in the world. The race is island to island (ö till ö), where teams of two will be swimming between and running across 26 islands in the Stockholm archipelago. It's a total distance of 75km, 10km of swimming and 65km running. Did I mention that they swim with their shoes on and run in their wetsuits? There's a nice little article about the race here, and live coverage will be here beginning at 5:45am CET tomorrow.
Last year Paul and Björn won the race and set a new course record at 8hrs 35mins. I think defending a title is much more nerve wracking than going after one in the first place, and I know that for a lot of our friends and family tomorrow is going to be a nail-biter of a day. This is not a very spectator friendly sport , so I'll be heading out to the finish line and following along online all day. I'll definitely be packing a few of these super seed bars along with me.
Ch-ch-ch-chia! Chia seeds are a concentrated source of the omega-3 fatty acid, alpha-linolenic acid (ALA), are rich in dietary fiber. They are an excellent source of essential minerals such as phosphorous, manganese, calcium, sodium and potassium. Due to the exceptional water-absorption properites of chia, it can help prolong hydration and help the body retain electrolytes at times such as during exertion. Whole, water-soaked chia seeds are easily digested, and their nutrients can be quickly absorbed by the body. Once soaked, chia seeds bulk up, then work like a cleaning crew in our digestive systems. As they move through the intestinal tract, they help to dislodge and eliminate accumulated waste in the intestines. Many people find their stools also become more regular once they eat chia.
Two years ago: Honey Roasted Carrot and Hummus Sandwiches
Three years ago: Grilled Corn and Tomato Fritatta
Four years ago: BC Summer Muffins
super seed bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup rolled oats
- ½ cup uncooked quinoa
- ½ cup chia seeds
- ½ cup sunflower seeds
- 2 tablespoon ground flax seeds
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon sea salt
- ½ cup almond butter
- ½ cup date syrup
Instructions
- Line a 9x9 square baking pan with parchment paper. Preheat oven to 180°C / 350°F.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, quinoa, chia, sunflower, flax, cinnamon, and salt. Stir to combine.
- In a small saucepan or microwave proof bowl, combine the almond butter and date syrup. Warm slightly, and stir well to combine.
- Pour the date syrup almond butter mixture over the dry ingredients, and mix everything together.
- Press the mixture into the prepared baking sheet. Wet hands or an additional sheet of parchment paper over the top can be used to press the mixture smoothly to the edges of the pan.
- Bake for 20 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and cool the pan on a wire rack.
- When the seed bars are completely cool, lift the edges of the parchment to lift the bars out of the baking tin.
- Slice into 12 equal bars.
- Separate bars with pieces of parchment paper, and store in an airtight container.
Nutrition
Lauren says
So excited to try this recipe! I was just wondering if the chia seeds are soaked before hand or go into the mixture dry. You talk about the benefits of water soaked chia seeds, do they soak and expand in the almond butter and syrup mixture?
Katie Trant says
Nope, they're not pre-soaked otherwise these bars would end up super gummy. Just toss them in dry!
Charlotte says
These look really great and I want to try the recipe to take with us on a camping trip, but it turns out one of us gets stomach cramps from quinoa. Do you have any suggestions for a substitute for that?
Katie Trant says
Hey Charlotte, I haven't tried these bars without the quinoa, so can't say for sure how they'd turn out, but I suspect you could leave it out and add extra oats to compensate. Let us know what you end up doing and how they work out!
Charlotte says
I ended up increasing the oats by 1/4 cup and adding a 1/4 cup of sesame seeds. They turned out great!
Katie Trant says
Perfect! Thanks for the update 🙂
Monika @ MYFOODANDHAPPINESS says
Katie, what a brilliant recipe! These bars look delicious and super nutritious! Thanks for sharing 🙂
Katie Trant says
They are really great, and last for ages! I hope you try them out 🙂
Robin says
What is date syrup and where would I find it? I usually use organic brown rice syrup for granola bars. Would that work?
Katie Trant says
I haven't tried this recipe with brown rice syrup so can't say for sure that it would work, but I suspect it probably would. If you try it out please let us know in the comments how it goes! Date syrup is exactly what it sounds like - syrup made from dates! Dates are cooked and pressed, so the syrup is concentrated. For example 100g of date syrup would contain about 200g of dates. I find it in the ethnic section of my grocery store with the middle eastern foods. You may also be able to find it in a health food store with the natural sweeteners such as brown rice syrup. There are also a lot of sources online if you do a quick search. Good luck!
DeENA KAKAYA says
HI, its been a while. my apologies for being in caps, I am at my mum and dad's place and they have a temperamental computer. anyway, I just had to stop and tell you that I going to try this out because my husband keeps purchasing ones that look just like this and they taste gross but I know, I just know that these are going to be delish x
Katie Trant says
They are delish indeed! And I'm sure you'll be able to get your hands on some date syrup? I hope you like them!
Kathryn says
These sound great - I'm always on the look out for snack bars like this that pack a nutritional punch as well as tiding me over between meals. I hope paul's race went well, I can't even imagine what it's like to try and prepare for something like that...
Katie Trant says
These definitely do that! Seeds are such nutritional powerhouses on their own, so when you combine so many of them together it really packs a punch! Paul's race went well! They went 10 minutes faster than the winning time last year and came a totally respectable 2nd place. And yeah, the training is all kinds of bonkers.
Beth Berger says
*munchie (whoops!)
Beth Berger says
This looks magnificent for a muchie to take along to work! Thanks for the recipe. xoxo
Katie Trant says
It's definitely a great snack to pack along for a busy day!