Mikey He Likes It! (Puffed Grain Bars Extra Nutty)

So as you may have read in my other Puffed Grain Bar recipe, Buddy was less than excited about the first recipe product. But with some tweaking (and even some pictures for this one). Here is the one he WILL eat!!


Puffed Grain Bars Extra Nutty
1 cup honey
1 cup date sugar
2 cups nut butter of choice
4 cups puffed grain

So here is the specs on what I used.

I used 1 cup roasted almond butter (no salt)  and 1 cup cashew butter (no salt).I like to use the organic nut butters from Once Again Nut Butter.

But we also get the organic butter from Maranatha. Just watch out for their No Stir ones, they usually have sugar and palm oil added.

 

I usually buy puffed rice, puffed millet and puffed corn from Arrowhead Mills BUT they are NOT certified Gluten Free. They claimed (when I spoke with someone at the company) that they practice good handling practices and clean equipment between runs; but they can not guarantee that there are not any traces of gluten in the puffed grain. But that is okay with us since Buddy does not have Celiac's disease. But if you have someone who does find another brand, one that does say Certified Gluten Free. We are now gluten free so I use Erewhon Rice Twice Cereal for the puffed grain.

For this recipe I used 3 cups puffed brown rice and 1 cup puffed millet. I use about 3 cups of Erewhon Rice Twice Cereal. (I found it at the Whole Foods 90 miles from me. I stock up)

Mix together honey, date sugar & nut butters. Microwave one minute at a time. Stir after each minute. I microwaved for a total of 4 minutes (but my cashew butter was cold out of the fridge). Microwave in one minute increments until bubbling and fully combined. This stuff will be REALLY HOT! I cook mine in my Pampered Chef Batter Bowl.

Remove from microwave and mix in  the puffed grain (you can also add raisins or chopped dried fruit at this stage too), stirring carefully until well combined. Pour out into a well greased large lasagna pan or cookie sheet with a lip. (I spray my lasagna pan with Pam Olive Oil Spray). Let cool completely.

Cut into squares or bar shapes and store in ziploc bags.

Store flat in one layer or put plastic wrap between layers. They will want to stick back together.

And if you ever travel with them in the car, beware,
you may end up with one very larger grain BALL. Twelve or more hours of travel in an over-stuffed minivan for us, equaled a large grain ball about the size of a cantaloupe. But it was still yummy.  We just tore off chunks and munched. When you are in the car for that long with three children, food makes everyone happy and hopefully a little more quiet!!!

So there ya go. Hope you enjoy it as much as we do. There are days I even count this as Buddy's protein in a meal (Shhh don't share that.) and give him some extra crackers and fruit.