DOUBLE CHOCOLATE STRAWBERRY AND OAT ENERGY BARS ... healthy & delish!!

"If you don’t quit, you will succeed by accident as long as you keep going."

Diane Walker

I'm always in the mood for fruit in baking, energy bars, snacks with healthy oats in them, healthy stuff, cutting back on butter etc. If I take care of a few good thngs on the snacky level, then dessert doesn't seem so calorific after all. Doing the balancing act as a food blogger is never easy as there's so much eye candy out there to tempt you!

But with every down side comes the upside, and that's just what I found when I read Megan's post @ Megan's Cooking the other day, Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Snack Bars. They grabbed my attention since I'm always on the lookout for healthy snack bars as the boy goes to train for soccer, and I think oats offer goodness in every bite! The bars reminded me of these Thick Chewy Granola Bars, and there was something about Megan's recipe that got me to get up and make them immediately. I'm glad I did!

There was a time when most baking was done with all purpose flour. One of the easiest flours to use, it always gives consistently good results. The biggest drawback of using refined flour is as the name suggests, it is ‘refined’ so it lacks nutritional benefit. A diet based on white flour products tends to be deficient in a number of essential nutrients, primarily the ‘B-complex’ vitamins. It also is linked to weight gain and insulin problems.

The winds of change are slowly sweeping the culinary world, and there is a paradigm shift to the use of ‘Alternative Flours’. Though you might not find much variety in India, some substitution is always possible. I have increasingly begun trying to substitute a part of the regular flour in recipes with flours like buckwheat flour (kuttu ka aata), whole wheat flour (aata), or then with rolled or powdered oats. (Fab India stocks buckwheat flour in season, and in North India it is available in almost every corner shop during the fasting season.)

I experimented with Megan's recipe, and make this almost every week now. It makes for a great snack, and keeps well in the fridge in an airtight box. I have played around with the plain flour in the original recipe, and in case you don’t find buckwheat flour, you can always substitute it for whole wheat flour. I like the health benefits of the recipe a lot, as also the fact that it uses just ¼ cup of oil and no butter! Despite this, it’s a very delicious bar and does well in the kids snack boxes. If you'd like to cut out calories, then go ahead and skip the conserve and chocolate, which is how the original recipe is.

Double Chocolate Strawberry & Oat Energy Bars
Adapted from Megan's Cooking

1/4 cup oil
1/2 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup granulated vanilla/white sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons skim milk
1 tbsp vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups old-fashioned oats (I use Quaker)
1/2 cup buckwheat flour
1/3 cup flour
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/4 cup strawberry conserve, melted
50gms dark chocolate, melted

Method:
Pre heat oven to 180C.

Line a 7 X 11 X 2 inch baking pan with parchment paper. Grease lightly.

In a large bowl, combine the oil, brown sugar, vanilla/white granulated sugar, egg, milk, vanilla and salt. Beat on medium speed for 2-3 minutes or until the sugars have dissolved.

In a separate bowl, combine oats, all flours, baking soda and chocolate chips. Stir until combined. Add to liquid mixture and mix well. Transfer to the prepared tin and spread uniformly. You can bake as is at this point, or spread a 1/4 cup of melted preserves on top with an offset spatula/butter knife and then bake.

Bake 15-20 minutes until golden.Remove from oven and spread the melted chocolate over it and allow to cool until firm. 

Once cool, chill for about an hour for the chocolate to set. Cut into bars/ squares and store tightly covered. Refrigerate if the weather is warm because the chocolate will melt. These bars keep well in an airtight box in the fridge for 1-2 weeks.

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