Have you heard of puffed quinoa or quinoa crispies? It's quinoa that's been cooked and then toasted so they are puffy, crispy and delicious, just like rice crispies. Better yet, they have all the nutritional value of regular quinoa! I'm not a huge fan of regular quinoa, but the crispies are delicious. So, I started hunting for recipes to use the crisped quinoa in, and I ran across this recipe for puffed quinoa energy bars. As quinoa is a complete protein, these qualify as a protein bar. I whipped these up this afternoon. They are delicious, crunchy, chewy, sweet, salty, and best of all, they aren't filled with additives, preservatives, soy, xantham gum or any other item that was manufactured in a lab!
Puffed Quinoa Energy Bars (via robinskey.com)
Ingredients:
4 cups Puffed Quinoa, or puffed brown rice, kamut or other healthy, crunchy, crispy alternative
1/2 cup Sunflower Seeds
1/2 cup Pumpkin Seeds
1/4 cup Sesame Seeds
2/3 cup dried Cranberries
1/2 cup Golden Raisins
1/2 tsp salt
Sauce
3/4 cup Maple Syrup
1/2 cup Almond Butter
1/2 cup Coconut Butter** (see site on Coconut Butter FAQs and recipe)
1 Tbsp Vanilla
6 Tbsp Chia Seeds – ground
1. Mix all of the Sauce ingredients except ground chia seeds together in a bowl. I used a little whisk but you can stir with a spoon. Mix until smooth and well combined. Then add chia seeds. This will give them a little extra time to swell up.
2. Mix all the rest of the ingredients in a bowl. Then add the sauce and stir all ingredients well together. When thoroughly combined transfer mixture to a parchment lined 9 x 13 inch baking pan and press down so top is flat and smooth.
3. Refrigerate to set. After an hour remove and cut into desired bar size. Store in an air tight container. If storing for over a few days, keep them stored in the fridge.
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