Homemade Energy Bars

I decided to try my hand at making some homemade energy bars this week to bring with me on a work trip next week.  Store bought energy bars can be so expensive and often packed with preservatives and other questionable ingredients.
 
These homemade energy bars are perfect to keep in your bag to have for:

• a pre-workout bite
• when you are on the go 
• when you need a quick snack 
• a long hike 
• a day out on the golf course 
• a long road trip or flight.  

The beauty of making your own energy bars is that you can add whatever ingredients you want, below is the recipe for the ones I made, but you can be as creative as you would like and customize them to your liking!  (Just make sure you keep the proportions & consistency similar to that below of nuts & oats to fruit.) Not only do you get to control the ingredients, but these homemade energy bars are ridiculously easy to make, far cheaper than buying them in the store and are super nutritious.  Based on my recipe below each energy bar is 207 calories and costs only $0.64!  When I priced this recipe out and realized each bar only cost $0.64, I almost fell out of my seat...not only do they taste delicious, but they are 1/4 of the price of what you pay at the store!  I will NEVER purchase store bought energy bars ever again and either will you once you taste these and see how easy they are to make!


INGREDIENTS:

• 3/4 cup Steel Cut Oats
• 1/2 cup Raw Almonds
• 1/2 cup Hazelnuts (No salt)
• 1/2 cup Figs
• 1/2 cup Apricots
• 1 tsp Vanilla Extract
• 1 tsp Raw Agave Nectar
• Dash of Salt

RECIPE:

• Chop up almonds, hazelnuts, figs & apricots (If you are using a food processor you don't have to chop these ingredients first - I was using a Vitamix, so I felt more comfortable to chop up the nuts and fruit first)
• In a food processor or Vitamix, pulse the oats, almonds, hazelnuts, figs and apricots together until blended.
• Add the vanilla, agave nectar and salt and mix until mixture holds together when pressed.
• Spread into a small baking pan (I didn't have a small baking pan, so I used a ceramic pie pan)
• Let cool in the refrigerator for 1-2 hours and cut into bars.
• I individually wrapped each bar in parchment paper to prevent them sticking to each other and then stored them in the pantry in an airtight container.