Kelly’s energy bars

Anyone who needs some get-up-and-go, but wants to avoid expensive energy bars, will love these. They really “stick to your ribs“, as your Granny would say. Store in the fridge

• ½ cup toasted wheat germ

• 1 cup rolled oats

• ¼ cup wholemeal flour or rice flour

• ½ cup non-fat dry milk powder

• ½ teaspoon ground cinnamon

• 2 large eggs

• 1 banana, mashed

• ¹/³ cup manuka honey

• ½ cup raw unsalted sunflower seeds

• ½ cup sliced dried apricots

• ½ cup raw almonds

• ½ cup raisins

• ½ cup dried cranberries

1. Preheat the oven to 175°C. Grease a 21 x 31cm baking tin and line the bottom with baking paper.

2. Firstly, toast your wheat germ by placing in a small frying pan (no oil) for two minutes. Keep an eye on it. Then combine with rolled oats, flour, dry milk powder and cinnamon in a bowl and set aside. Whisk eggs, add mashed banana and honey and set aside.

3. In a food processor, pulse sunflower seeds, dried apricots, almonds, raisins and cranberries a few times to coarsely chop.

4. Add the dry ingredients to the fruit and nuts, then mix in the wet ingredients. Transfer to the baking pan and spread evenly.

5. Bake until just done, for about 20 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes, then cut into 20 bars. Allow to cool completely before separating and storing.

Cook’s tip: All the dried fruit in this recipe can be substituted for dried dates, figs, blueberries etc. For those wanting a gluten-free bar, substitute the wheat flour for rice flour and wheat germ for flax seeds.