Homemade Clif Bars

I, like many many other food bloggers, have gotten on the "make things from scratch that are usually easily purchased from the store" wagon.  There's just something satisfying about recreating a taste in your own kitchen AND having that satisfaction that you can pronounce every ingredient involved.

I'm certainly no health-nut (I say this with one hand in a bag of cheddar penguin-shaped crackers) so making things homemade isn't a personal philosophy to remain healthier.  I just like food that tastes good, man.  And I like making it in my kitchen.  Sometime's it's as simple as that.

The original recipe calls for raisins to be pulverized in a food processor.  When I made it, I found the resulting bars to taste too, well, raisin-y.  Go figure.  I thought perhaps the raisins would mostly provide texture but there was a distinct raisin-y flavor as well.  Being that I'm not the biggest raisin fan, I thought I'd swap them out on my second go and use dried apricots instead.  For my tastes, muucchhh better.

And I tossed in some vanilla whey protein powder for good measure.  If you don't have any protein powder, then you will ruin these bars.  KIDDING.  Just leave it out, they'll be just fine.  Apricot-y.  Chocolate-y.  Protien-y.  Non-raisin-y.  Yummy.  

Here's the recipe!  

Homemade Clif Bars
yields about 9 bars

Ingredients
1 cup old fashioned oats
1 cup unfrosted mini shredded wheat (or 3 large biscuit size shredded wheat)
1 cup dried apricots
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
2 eggs
1/3 cup vanilla whey protein powder
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup honey
1/4 peanut butter
1/2 cup mini chocolate chips  

Instructions
1.  Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Spray an 8x8 baking dish with cooking spray and set aside.  

2.  Place apricots in a food processor and pulse until chopped.  The mixture will be sticky.  Add the shredded wheat, oats, protein powder, cinnamon and salt and pulse until well incorporated.  

3.  In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, honey, and peanut butter until incorporated.  Add the oat mixture and chocolate chips and stir until evenly combined.  

4.  Spread evenly into prepared pan and bake 15-18 minutes until the edges are slightly golden.  Allow to cool completely before slicing.  

Enjoy!

Recipe adapted from Cookies and Cups.