These maple cinnamon power bars are the perfect grab & go snack. They are high in carbohydrates, healthy fats and antioxidants and store well in the fridge or freezer. If you’re enjoying them at home (they’re a great breakfast, too!) you can place them in the microwave for 30 seconds prior to enjoying and the chocolate will melt just perfectly… yum!
Ingredient Notes and Health Benefits:
Oat flour: I buy whole grain oat flour so that it includes the germ, bran and endosperm, making it high in fiber and less processed. Oat flour is high in antioxidants, too. If you don’t have oat flour, you can put an extra cup of oats in the blender and blend until smooth.
Old fashioned oats: Any brand will work. Try not to buy “1 minute” oats as they are more processed.
Brown sugar: Slightly less refined and lower in calories than white sugar, I love using brown sugar in baking.
Cinnamon: I love the flavor of cinnamon! It’s loaded with antioxidants and is also an anti-inflammatory. Bam!
Almond milk: I love to bake with almond milk, but cows milk or coconut milk will work well, too.
Banana: The more ripe the better! Bananas get much sweeter as the ripen. This also makes it much easier to mash. They are also high in potassium.
Cinnamon apple sauce: Regular apple sauce will work well too, but I love Trader Joe’s cinnamon apple sauce, and you can never have too much cinnamon, right?!
Dark chocolate: I love dark chocolate because they are a little bit less sweet and also provide a bunch of health benefits because of the high % of cacao in comparison to milk chocolate! Cacao is high in antioxidants, minerals. It also may reduce the risk of heart disease, lower blood pressure and cholesterol and also contain anti-inflammatory properties.
How to Make Maple Cinnamon Power Bars
Place the dry ingredients except chocolate and pecans (oat flour, oats, brown sugar, salt, baking soda, cinnamon) into a large mixing bowl and stir. In a medium sized mixing bowl, place 2 peeled bananas and mash with a fork. Add wet ingredients to banana (milk, eggs, apple sauce, vanilla, maple syrup) and whisk. Create a well in the dry ingredients by pushing them out to the side of the bowl. Pour wet ingredients into well, mix to combine ingredients and set aside for 15 minutes to let flavors set.
In the meantime, preheat the oven to 350. Place a large piece of parchment paper over a baking dish so that it is larger on all 4 sides. After 15 minutes, pour mixture into baking dish, and use a spoon to make sure it is evenly spread out.
Place in the oven for 20-30 minutes. Remove from oven and press down on the top of the bars, they should be hard. Pull up on parchment paper and place on a wire rack for 5 minutes to cool. Then place on a cutting board and cut into squares. Store in the fridge or freezer.
2 cups oat flour
Ingredients
3 cups old fashioned oats
1 cup brown sugar
2 tsp salt
3 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1 cup almond or coconut milk
2 bananas
1/2 cup maple syrup
1/2 cup cinnamon apple sauce
1/2 cup dark chocolate chunks
1/2 cup chopped pecansInstructions
