How to make peanut butter and jelly flavored energy bars with protein rich hemp and pumpkin seeds that can be found at your salad bar for cheaper :)

It’s easier than you think to make your own version of fresh RX or Cliff style bars, they might not be as cost effective as just buying them but it’s a fun way to experiment with flavors. Once you have the fundamentals down, you can start creating your own dream flavors by using dried fruits and nuts to make new custom creations, tailored to your taste. Oats are a cheap filler ingredient to stretch out your bars, and dates are often used as the binding ingredient, keeping things all together. For your oats, nuts, and seeds I always prefer toasting them because it brings out the flavor even more, I don’t know an occasion where toasting your nuts isn’t the right idea.

If you live close to a Whole Foods or similar salad bar situation, you can often find expensive nuts and seeds for a fraction of the cost if you were to buy them in the bulk bins (life hack). Half the fun of making these bars for me are forming them into uniform bricks that look just like a regular bar, I like to use a Musubi Press for this. They’re cheap on Amazon and come in handy for many applications. If you don’t have one, you can also roll out the blob and slice with a knife. I like to keep my finished bars in the refrigerator so they stay solid during the warmer months, and will last for a couple weeks at least. This recipe makes a peanut butter and jelly flavored bar that everyone will be okay with but don’t hesitate to get weird with your creations.

Equipment

Food Processor

Large Mixing Bowl

Musubi Press (optional)

Ingredients

¼ cup Rolled Oats (1oz)

5 tbsp Raw unsalted pumpkin seeds (1.7 oz)

3 tbsp Raw unsalted hemp seeds (1 oz)

8 Dates (4.1oz) pitted

½ cup Freeze Dried Raspberries (0.4 oz)

2 ½ tbsp Peanut Butter (I use salted and chunky) 1.5 oz

½ tbsp Honey

½ tsp ground cinnamon

Pinch of Kosher Salt

*DRY TO WET RATIO*

3oz dry

6oz wet

Directions

1. Toast the oats, hemp seeds, and pumpkin seeds in a dry pan for a couple minutes on medium heat until golden brown, keep the pan moving often.
2. When golden brown and smelling toasty, put everything straight to your food processor.
3. Remove the pits from your dates and add them to the processor, along with the freeze dried raspberries.
4. Process for 30 seconds or so, until the dates are all broken up and pumpkin seeds are the size of the hemp seeds.
5. In a small pot or microwave, heat peanut butter, honey, cinnamon, and salt slowly, stirring until mixture is warmed through and pliable, make sure you don’t burn the bottom, we’re not trying to cook anything here, just make it easier to work with.
6. Add dry ingredients from food processor to a large mixing bowl, do the same with the wet ingredients, using a rubber spatula to scrape it all out.
7. Using your hands, knead the mixture for a minute to incorporate everything thoroughly, be careful it might be hotter than you hoped.
8. Separate the mixture into 4 sections, if you have a scale, shoot for 2.5 ounces.
9. In your musubi press, push the mixture evenly down into all the corners, then using the plunger, press down for a few seconds to make flat bricks, carefully remove and repeat with the remaining bars.
10. Store in a plastic bag or tupperware container, wrap in plastic or foil and bring some along for a road trip or hike.