Lunchbox Treats

Now that school has gone back, I'm on the lookout for treats that I can put in my daughter's lunchbox. Luckily we don't have a 'no nuts' policy at our school, but I do try to avoid putting nuts in things if I can. This slice is perfect if you can't have nuts, but still want something dense and filling.

This recipe for Granola or Muesli bars was in last weeks copy of Epicure in the The Age Newspaper. I don't really like grams of wet and dry ingredients, because I find it too fiddly, but I held my tongue and diligently weighed everything out. Next time I'll take more notice of how much I add and convert it to cup measurements.  I also modified the original recipe a little bit to use up what I had in the cupboard. If you don't like dates, dried apricots, or any other dried fruit would work nicely too.  To make them as a home treat, you could easily add chopped nuts instead of the seeds.

The bars turned out nice and dense, so were great in a lunchbox, where they get tossed around a fair bit. There is nothing worse than a delicate slice or biscuits that ends up as crumbs by the time you get to eat them!

As an after school snack, kids can enjoy with a nice glass of milk and you can sit down and relax with a cup of tea or coffee!

Granola Bars

100g butter, cut into cubes

80g honey

90g brown sugar

80g dried dates, chopped

200g rolled oats

20g poppy seeds

30g sunflower seed and pepita mix

1/4 tsp allspice

A pinch of salt

Preheat oven to 160 degrees.

Line a 20x20cm cake tin with baking paper.

In a saucepan, combine butter, honey and sugar and heat until melted. Simmer gently until a soft caramel forms.

Combine all other ingredients in a bowl.

Add the hot caramel to the dry ingredients and stir to coat evenly.

Scoop the mixture into the tin and press evenly with the back of a spoon.

Bake for 15-20 mins or until golden brown. The slice will still be soft when you remove it from the oven, but will set more as it cools.

Cool in the tin, then cut into squares to serve.

Enjoy!