Jill's Running Bar Version 2.0

Serves: 14

Ingredients

  • 1/2 cup white wheat flour
  • 2 cups old fashioned oats (not instant or quick oats)
  • 2 ripe bananas, mashed
  • 1/4 cup honey
  • 1 egg
  • 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
  • 2 tablespoons almond butter
  • 1/4 cup applesauce, unsweetened
  • 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 tablespoon cinnamon, or to taste
  • Cooking spray

Instructions

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  2. Place mashed bananas, honey and cinnamon in a skillet and warm over medium heat for 3 minutes.
  3. Add almond butter and bring mixture to a boil.
  4. Once the mixture reaches a boil, reduce heat to lowest setting and simmer for 2 to 3 minutes. Set aside and allow to cool completely.
  5. Combine flour, oats, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a bowl and mix until well blended.
  6. Add egg and applesauce and blend until the mixture is wet.
  7. Fold in the completely cooled banana mixture and mix until well combined (If you add the banana mixture before it has cooled completely it will melt the chocolate chips).
  8. Stir in dark chocolate chips.
  9. Spray a rectangular glass pan with cooking spray (I used a 7 x 11 pan).
  10. Evenly spread mixture into the pan.
  11. Cook for 25 minutes.
  12. Allow to cool completely and slice into bars.
  13. Enjoy!

Nutritional data

Serving size: 1 bar
Calories: 134
Fat: 4 grams
Protein: 23 grams

Notes

This recipe makes 14 big bars. You could easily cut them in half.

Nutritional data is approximate.

 

One of the greatest things about creating and experimenting with recipes is that, from time to time, you stumble upon something that makes a big difference in the way you prepare foods. That is exactly what happened to me today. Now that I've decided to start running again, I needed to make some granola bars (the sugar in the bars helps fuel my run). I pulled up my old recipe, looked it over and decided to tweak things. One of the first things I wanted to do was give them a bit more of a sweet taste - but without adding calories. By happenstance, I came across a program that showed a woman warming up mashed bananas in order to extract the natural sugars. Inspired, I mashed by bananas, warmed them in a skillet and hoped for the best. And guess what? It worked! I have a sweeter bar without adding an ounce more of sugar! I'm so excited and hope that you enjoy these as much as we have.