10th Post!!- Cinnamon Apricot Power Bars

Hey y'all!  I'm so happy that this is my 10th post already!  To celebrate, I've decided to share one of my favorite healthy, scrumptious recipes:  Cinnamon apricot power bars.

So essentially , a power bar is my fancy term for a protein-packed granola bar.  It gives you energy.  It gives you awesometasticness (new word y'all)  Lemme break it down.

Let's start with the carby-part of these power bars:  All ya gotta do is mix together quick oats, whole wheat flour, and Grape Nuts cereal.  That's it.  Be SURE that you use quick oats,though.  It ensures that the bar is not overloaded with dry ingredients and that it bakes in a reasonable amount of time.  BTW, Grape Nuts are just oat and barley cereal.  You'll find it at pretty much any normal grocery store, or you could make them yourself .

Then the most crucial  part of these power bars:  The stickage.  This is essentially the "glue" of the bar.  Honey is crucial to making sure the bars are nice and solid when baked.  To the honey, you mix apple sauce, oil, and egg.  All these ingredients lend moisture and stickiness to the dry ingredient mixture and binds all the ingredients.

Next, the body of the power bars: Walnuts and sunflower seeds add lots of nutrition and bulk to these power bars.

Finally, the flavor boosters:  Dried apricots, cinnamon, honey, and a touch of brown sugar all add scrumptious flavor to the rest of the power bars.

A quick cooking hack:  Before pouring the honey into the measuring cup, grease the measuring cup to prevent the honey from sticking .  (That'st just the link to the homepage of the blog where I got it from.)

I adapted this recipe and here's the link .

Bottom line:  Whip up these simple power bars for a quick and healthy snack that will satisfy your sweet cravings.

Cinnamon Apricot Power Bars

• 2 cups quick-cooking rolled oats
• 1 cup whole wheat flour
• 1 cup wheat and barley nugget cereal (Grape-Nuts)
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 2 beaten eggs
• 1/2 cup applesauce
• 1/2 cup honey
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 1/2 cup sunflower seeds (salted or unsalted)
• 1 1/2 cups unsalted walnuts, chopped
• 1 cup dried apricots, chopped

1.   Preheat oven to 325 degrees F
2.   Line a 9 x 13 with aluminum foil that is sprayed with cooking spray.
3.   In a large bowl , stir together the oats, flour, cereal, and cinnamon.
4.  Add the egg, applesauce, honey, brown sugar, and oil.  Mix well.
5.   Stir in the sunflower seeds, walnuts, and dried apricots.
6.   Spread mixture evenly in prepped pan.
7.  Bake 30 minutes, or until firm and lightly browned around the edges.
8.   Let cool and then use the foil to lift from the pan.
9.  Cut into bars or squares.
10.  These bars stay fresh at room temperature for 1 day and can be frozen for up to a month.