Planet Veggie

I don’t make a lot of bars or cakes or flapjacks or things like that, but as I was flicking through my new Easy Vegan cookbook, I came across these peanut butter bars and thought I’d give them a go. The book doesn’t contain any nutritional advice, but I would imagine although they’re probably quite high calories, they’d also be good for pre- and post-exercise, with the oats giving slow release energy and the peanuts being good for recovery. In other words, forget the calories and enjoy!

These were incredibly quick and easy to make and as I had all the ingredients except the golden syrup in the cupboard, sort of free. Result.

Peanut butter bars (makes 8 bars)

4 tablespoons organic crunchy peanut butter
4 tablespoons light corn syrup or golden syrup
1 1/2 cups/100g whole rolled oats
1/2 cup/50g golden raisins/sultanas
1 tablespoon whole-wheat/wholemeal flour, preferably stoneground

A non-stick cake pan/tin 6×9 inches/23 x 15 cm

Preheat the oven to 375F/190C/Gas 5

Put the peanut butter and corn syrup in a saucepan and heat very gently until melted, about 3 minutes. Add the oats, golden raisins/sultanas, and flour and stir well until thoroughly mixed and the mixture has the consistency of breadcrumbs.

Pour the mixture into the cake pan/tin and press in with the back of a spoon. Bake in the preheated oven for about 10 minutes (the original recipe says 15 but our oven does them quickly, so keep an eye on them). Score into bars or squares with a knife while still warm, then allow to cool before cutting through and removing the bars from the pan/tin. Once cool, the bars can be stored in an airtight container for up to 2 weeks.

Credits:
Peanut butter bars
Recipe by Rachael Anne Hill, Easy Vegan, Ryland Peters & Small