Hopefully, we’ll change the name of these to “8-Year-Bars” by this time tomorrow. Crossing my fingers with one hand and eating one of these with the other.
Let’s talk about substituting for a moment before the recipe. If you are allergic to nuts, you’ll absolutely make your own granola or you’ll buy a nut-free version. The pumpkin butter gives these an amazing silky gooeyness, but you could substitute a nut butter or an apple butter with very good results. Oat flour is delightful, gluten-free, and easy to make: Just throw some rolled oats in the food processor and blitz. Any other delicious-or all purpose type-flour could stand in if need be. UNDER NO CIRCUMSTANCES can cranberries, dried cherries or strawberries and cane sugar be substituted in place of the O’s and blueberries. Giggle.
Election Day Energy Bars
*2 c. “O”-shaped cereal
*1 c. dried blueberries
*4 c. granola
*2 pinches of salt (1/4 t.)
*1 c. oat flour
*1/2 t. vanilla
*1/4 c. vegetable oil
*1/4 c. honey
*3/4 c. pumpkin butter
Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F. Grease or line two baking sheets with silpats.
Together: Take out a gigantic bowl and a wooden spoon. Into the bowl, place the “O’s”, blueberries, granola, salt, and flour. Your mini-chef will stir and stir till everything is well combined. Next make a big “O” in the bowl by sticking the wooden spoon down into the middle of the dry ingredients. (This is more commonly referred to as “making a well”.)
Pour the wet ingredients into the center of the “O”. Slap high fives, and then mix all of the wet ingredients together in the center. When the wet ingredients are well combined, start mixing everything together. This might be a great place to do some turn taking as it is hard work for one set of small hands to do all by itself.
Now set a small bowl of warm water on your workspace. Dip your hands into the water and then grab a clementine-sized piece of the bar mixture. Shape it into a ball, a pancake , or anything you like, and place on the baking sheet. Repeat with the rest of the mixture.
Big Person: Slide the pans into the oven and bake 20-25 minutes. They should still be soft, like a chewy granola bar.
