These Superfood Energy bars for kids (or anyone!) are full of all the good stuff and they stick together like the ones you get from the shop. A healthy secret ingredient is what makes them store bought kind of sticky and sweet.
- Contains nuts
Energy Bars For Kids
Making school lunches every morning can be a big pain in the ass. Especially if you are not prepared. Last minute scrounging around the kitchen for something to pack in the kids lunch is not something I recommend. Only because I've done it. Plenty of times.
You need something healthy, something filling and most importantly, something that's going to give the little darlings some energy!
Hello energy bars for kids! Firstly, these bars are made with nuts. Some schools don't allow nuts because of allergies so check with your school before packing them. Many of the store bought energy bars you'll find in the shops are filled with syrups, or high fructose corn syrup (best avoided by...all of us!) and artificial flavors. Not these little babies.
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More Clean Eating Snacks
- Peanut butter Oatmeal bars
- Upside down Pineapple cake
- Oatmeal date bars
- Raspberry slice
- Nutty cookies
- No Bake bliss balls for kids
- Chocolate chip orange energy balls
Superfood Energy Protein Bars
Many of the bars type snacks I make use oats, as oatmeal has lots of fiber and since oatmeal is considered to be whole grains, whichever type of oatmeal you use, it'll be filling. But in the interests of jazzing things up a little now and again, these kids energy bars are oat free and use dates and nuts as their 'main' ingredient, it's a bit of a change from the usual!
Brown rice syrup is sometimes used in healthier energy bars as the sweetener, but I prefer using dates for these bars, they come together better. They're sort of like a granola bar without the oats.
Substitutes
Once you have the base of this recipe in place there are quite a few substitutes you can make if you want to. You need to use dried fruit if you want to add fruit, fresh fruit has too much moisture and you need the dehydrated nature of dried fruit
You could add ¼ cup of dried banana chips, dried apple, or any other dried fruit. You can also change any of the nuts, keeping the quantities the same, and you'll get the same result.
Superfood Slice
The thing that makes these bars deliciously sticky and sweet is simply ... drum roll please .... pureed dates. Yup. Regular ol' dates. They are naturally sweet and make the bar stick together like they should.
The funny thing is, my kids don't particularly even like dates on their own but they love this Superfood Energy Bar. I think it's a texture thing. Pureeing the dates into a smooth paste before adding it to the bar makes all the difference.
Storing These Energy Bars
keep these bars in aTupperware container in the fridge and they last up to a week. The honey and dates help keep these fresh and yummy, they harden up well in the fridge, so if you want them a little softer then take them out of the refrigerator an hour or so before you want to eat them.
Recipe Notes
- You can make these Energy Bars using coconut oil instead of butter but personally, we prefer butter. Coconut oil has a really strong taste and I think it ruins the flavor of the bar. If you are looking to avoid dairy all together then I suggest you add 2 tablespoons of almond nut butter instead of regular butter
- Healthy food should taste good too.
- I keep these bars in a air tight Tupperware in the fridge
- You can mix up the nuts. Feel free to replace the ½ cup of cashews with any other nut but keep the measurement to ½ cup
- Wrap these in parchment paper if you're putting them in lunchboxes so they don't stick!
How To Make Energy Bars For Kids
Ingredients
- 1 cup Dates
- ¼ cup Honey
- ¼ cup Quinoa
- 2 tbsp Butter Melted
- ½ cup Cashew nuts
- ½ cup Sunflower seeds or Pumpkin seeds
- OPTIONAL: ¼ cup dried cranberries OR cherries or apricots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350'F / 160'C
- Prepare a baking tin by lining it with baking paper. I used a 20cm x 30cm baking tin
- Soak the dates in boiling for water for around 5 minutes until slightly softened. Use a food processor to blend the dates into a paste
- Add all remaining ingredients to the food processor and give it a whizz for around 40 - 60 seconds until well mixed. Don't mix it for too long because you want to see all the nuts and seeds and not have a smooth mixture
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and use your fingers to push and flatten so that it's evenly spread out in the tin. You want it to cook evenly all over
- Bake for 25 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before cutting This lets the dates set and makes it easier to cut into bars
Energy Bars For Kids Recipe
Energy bars for kids
Ingredients
- 1 cup Dates
- ¼ cup Honey
- ¼ cup Quinoa
- 2 tablespoon Butter Melted
- ½ cup Cashew nuts
- ½ cup Sunflower seeds
- OPTIONAL: ¼ cup dried cranberries OR cherries or apricots
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350'F / 160'C
- Prepare a baking tin by lining it with baking paper. I used a 20cm x 30cm baking tin
- Soak the dates in boiling for water for around 5 minutes until slightly softened. Use a food processor to blend the dates into a paste
- Add all remaining ingredients to the food processor and give it a whizz for around 40 - 60 seconds until well mixed. Don't mix it for too long because you want to see all the nuts and seeds and not have a smooth mixture
- Spoon the mixture into the prepared baking tin and use your fingers to push and flatten so that it's evenly spread out in the tin. You want it to cook evenly all over
- Bake for 25 minutes
- Remove from oven and allow to cool. Refrigerate for 15 minutes before cutting This lets the dates set and makes it easier to cut into bars
