Apricot Choc Oat Bars

We've been trialling the perfect homemade oat bar for a while. The key factors were - it can't be crumbly, needs to be refined sugar free, uses pantry staples and is easy to make. Well, this recipe ticks all the boxes! It's the perfect bar to make on a Sunday so you can cut into slices for snacks during the week.

Makes roughly 8 long muesli bar slices or 16 squares

Ingredients:

1 C (170g) dried whole apricots, chopped
1 ½ C quick rolled oats
½ C sliced almonds
½ C walnuts, chopped
¼ C dark chocolate drops
½ tsp pink salt
½ C smooth peanut butter
¼ C brown rice syrup*

Optional chocolate drizzle:
1/4 C dark chocolate buttons

Method:

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees fan bake. Prepare a 20cm x 20cm baking dish and line with baking paper. Set aside. 

Chop your apricots roughly in quarters. To soften, add apricots to a pot with 3/4 C of hot water and cook over medium heat for 8-10 minutes or until softened. 

In the meantime, add the oats, sliced almonds, chopped walnuts, chocolate drops and salt to a large mixing bowl. Stir to combine. 

Once your apricots have softened, there should roughly be about ¼ C of water left in the pot which we won’t waste. Allow to cool for around 10 minutes then add peanut butter and brown rice syrup to the pot and stir until you have a sticky consistency. 

Add this sticky paste to your dry ingredients and stir to combine. It should end up completely combined and slightly sticky.

Add mixture to your prepared baking dish and push down evenly with the back of a spatula making sure it reaches all corners of the dish.

Bake in the oven for approximately 18-20 minutes. Remove from the oven and let sit for 5 minutes before removing from the tray and allowing to cool on a cooking rack for at least 1 hour. 

For the optional chocolate drizzle, simply melt the chocolate buttons to your preferred method - directly in a pot over medium heat, microwave or double boiler. Using either a knife or piping bag, pipe over the chocolate drizzle and place the bar in the fridge to set. 

Once set, slice into desired size slices and enjoy. 

Keep in the fridge for up to a week. 

*Item not available online but is available in your local GoodFor store.

Photography by Sarah aka @thesaarahproject.

Printable recipe PDF here.