Wednesday, June 23, 2010

Multigrain Fruit Bars

Somewhere between a bread and a cookie, this batter turns out like a homemade breakfast bar!

Start by spooning 1 cup applesauce onto several layers of paper towels, spreading so it is about 1/2-inch thick. Cover with additional paper towels and let stand for 5 minutes.

Place 2 cups Kashi puffed seven-grain cereal in a blender or food processor and pulse until coarsely ground. Lightly spoon 1 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour into measuring cups and level with a knife. Add to the blender, along with 1/4 cup powdered soy milk (in place of nonfat dry milk), 2 tablespoons wheat germ, 1 teaspoon baking soda, 1 teaspoon cinnamon, and 1/4 tsp. salt (tho I accidentally added 1/2 tsp!); pulse until combined.

Note: powdered soy milk should not be confused with soy protein powder! It's simply a dry powder mix that you can combine with water to make soy milk at home. Look for it with the boxed soy milk in the grocery store. I could only find vanilla-flavored, rather than plain, but figured that the extra vanilla would be a yummy addition to the fruit bars.

Spoon the applesauce from the paper towels into the blender with a rubber spatula. Add 1 cup fresh blueberries, 3/4 cup packed organic brown sugar (such as Wholesome Sweeteners), 1/3 cup chopped dried apricots, 1/3 cup vegetable or canola oil, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract, and the equivalent of 2 eggs using egg replacer (such as Ener-G); mix until combined.

Spoon the batter into a 13x9-inch baking dish coated with cooking spray - don't worry, the thickness won't be much more than 1/4-inch high - which is about what commercial breakfast bars look like!

Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes - a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, then divide into squares. For snack size bars, cut into 24 squares of 100 calories each. I liked these as a breakfast bar though, in which case try cutting them into 8 larger pieces of 300 calories each.

Cost:
applesauce $2.99
blueberries $3.99
dried apricots $4.49

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The Vegan Pantry

  • Vegan yogurt - Whole Soy http://www.wholesoyco.com/
  • Vegan milk - Silk http://www.silksoymilk.com/
  • Vegan Feta - Sunergia http://www.sunergiasoyfoods.com/
  • Vegan Cheese - Galaxy Foods http://www.galaxyfoods.com/
  • Vegan Eggs - Ener-G http://www.ener-g.com/
  • Vegan Butter - Earth Balance http://www.earthbalance.net/product.html