Recipe--Trail Bars

These bars have become the new favorite dessert at our house! We had them at a Bright Lights meeting and became huge fans of them. We love them because they’re very versatile and the ingredients can be changed to whatever you have on hand. Just make sure you have plenty of people to share them with, as it is easy to tuck a few away rather quickly! J

Trail Bars

1 cup of butter (we use coconut oil for part of this)

½ cup of honey

1 teaspoon of lemon juice

2 cups of whole wheat flour

1 cup of oats

½ cup of wheat germ (we didn’t have any, so we substituted ¼ cup of white flour instead.)

2 eggs

¼ cup of honey

1 cup of chopped almonds (or any other nut you want to try!)

1 cup of chocolate, carob, or cinnamon chips (we don’t use this much. You can add them to your taste.)

½ cup chopped dates, raisins, dried cherries, or cranberries

½ cup of dried apricots (substituting dried apples is our preference)

½ cup of unsweetened flaked coconut

2 tablespoons of sesame seeds (we used sunflower seeds instead)

Preheat oven to 350°F. In a medium bowl, mix together melted butter, ½ cup of honey, and lemon juice until well blended. Combine the flour, oats, and wheat germ; mix into the honey mixture. Spread evenly into the bottom of a greased 9 by 13 inch baking pan. Set aside.

In another bowl, beat eggs while gradually pouring in ¼ cup of honey. Stir in almonds, chocolate chips, dates, apricots, coconut, and seeds until they are evenly distributed and well coated. Spread over the crust in the pan. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in the preheated oven, or until center is set, and the top is lightly browned. Cool completely before cutting into bars. Makes 18 bars.