When I originally created this recipe for trail mix picnic bars it was for those days when you’re getting ready to head outside for a weekend full of adventures; these days, it’s more a case of trying to make days at home seem fun, interesting and different!
Whatever the scenario, these bars are always perfect. They’re bursting with all the energy giving goodness (and fun) of trail mix packed into gooey chocolate crispy bars, perfect for sustenance at home or on the go. I’m thinking of serving these after a good hour or so in the garden to make it feel like we’re having an outdoors adventure!
The pretzels add a salty, savoury note to the biscuits and cereal. You could almost say these along with a large drink of water could replace the sugars and salts lost during strenuous exercise (which right now might just be the daily Joe Wicks morning PE class!) – then again you could just say they’re yummy!
The great feature of this recipe is that the bars are fun and exciting, don’t need any flour (as that’s currently like gold dust round here), and the recipe can basically be adapted to use up the contents of those half bags and packs of biscuits, cereal and pretzels that are lying around in the larder! Perfect when you can’t leave the house 🙂
Ideally made the day before, these bars can also be made at the last minute as long as they have some setting time in the fridge or freezer.
Trail Mix Picnic Bars (aka Trail Mix stay at home bars!)
(dairy-free, egg-free, nut-free, sesame-free, vegetarian and vegan)
makes 16 small but perfectly sized bars
40g salted pretzels, roughly crushed
30g biscuits, roughly crushed (I used Lotus Biscoff)
60g cereal of choice
30g dried fruit of choice (optional)
100g golden syrup
50g Lotus Biscoff spread
25g sugar
85g dairy-free dark chocolate
Handful of sprinkles
- Line a 2lb loaf tin
- Melt together the syrup, sugar and biscoff spread until it’s a smooth caramel consistency
- Mix in the crushed biscuits, 30g of the crushed pretzels, the cereal and any dried fruit
- Tip into the lined loaf tin and press down, making the mixture nice and level. Place in the fridge to set.
- Melt the chocolate and spread over the set mix. Sprinkle on the extra pretzels and a handful of sprinkles. Return to the fridge. When the chocolate has fully set, cut into 16 even sized bars.
