Orlo's Power Bars

For Olro's birthday he asked for either chocolate chip cookies or for something called a Biff Bar. Since I've made chocolate chip cookies a gazillion times, I decided I'd take a stab at the Biff Bar. I had no luck finding a Biff Bar recipe but I did find a recipe called Jo-Ann's Power Bars on Allrecipes.com . Orlo said looked good so I gave it a shot.

I tweaked the recipe a bit (as usual) but accident I left out the eggs which made the bars a bit more crumbly then I would have wanted. But the good news is that they are vegan friendly! Yey!

Orlo's Power Bars

2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups Nature's Path SmartBran
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
2/3 cup applesauce
1/2 cup honey (for vegan bars use maple syrup or agave nectar)
6 tablespoons brown sugar
4 tablespoons vegetable oil
1/2 cup unsalted sunflower seeds
1/4 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup of chopped pecans
1 (7 ounce) bag chopped dried mixed fruit

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Spray a 9x13 pan with Pam. Set aside.

In a large bowl, stir together the oats, flour, cereal, and cinnamon. Add the applesauce, honey, brown sugar, and oil. Mix well. Stir in the sunflower seeds, walnuts, and dried fruit. Spread mixture evenly in the prepared pan.

Bake 30 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned around the edges. Let cool completely then cut into bars or squares, and store in an air-tight container in the refrigerator. Note: The flavor of the bars improves over time. I found that the flavor was much better the next day.

The best part about this recipe is that you can really add anything you'd like. My only regret would have been to use more fruit and to not use one that has any "essence" added. I think the dried fruit I used had a slight orange essence added to it.

Yield: 15-20 servings. It really depends on how you cut the bars.
Would I Make This Again? Yes. I want to try it with different fruit, more fruit, and raisins. I'd also like to try it with 2 egg whites too. 3.5 stars out of 5