Homemade "On the Bike" Energy Drinks and Bars

[Zen]

Great energy bars....English flapjacks:

200g butter
175g golden syrup
75g brown sugar
250 g rolled oats

melt butter, syrup and sugar together. Stir in oats and add chopped nuts, raisins, chopped dried fruit or other additions to taste. Pack into square baking dish. Bake at 180C for about 25 mins. Let them cool completely before cutting and eating or they fall apart. I also pour melted chocolate on top before they cool completely.

Delicious!!! BF has been requesting new batches made every few days this month!

That sounds delightful but what is golden syrup?
Would our Kayro be the equivalent?

[uk elephant]

Yes, karo-syrup would be similar. Not as good as golden syrup, but close enough. I'm sure honey would work too, if you prefer staying away from the high fructose corn syrup stuff in karo.

[farrellcollie]

I have not had any trouble finding Golden Syrup here in the midwest - it does taste better to me than Karo Syrup ( love those flapjacks in the UK).

[michelem]

Hey mudmucker,

Funny you should mention brown rice syrup, 'cause that's what I ended up buying instead of the corn syrup. It's still sitting in my cupboard, waiting for me to make these things though!

[Jolt]

Here's a cookie recipe that I haven't tried on the bike (my rides aren't that long) but I almost always take when I hike. My roommate calls them the "bomb cookies" because she thought they looked like an explosion of all kinds of good stuff.

16-oz. jar of natural peanut butter
3/4-1 cup H2O
2 cups white sugar
2 cups brown sugar
4 eggs
2 tsp. vanilla
2 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
2 tsp. baking powder
5 cups whole wheat flour
5-6 cups old-fashioned oats (I have always used 5 cups)
1 12-oz. bag of chocolate chips
1 cup raisins or other small pieces of dried fruit
1-2 cups nuts (I usually use sunflower seeds)

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Cream peanut butter, sugars, water, eggs and vanilla. Add baking soda, baking powder, salt and flour; mix. Fold in oats, nuts, fruit and chocolate chips (may have to use hands for this part). Drop by tablespoonful on cookie sheets. Bake for 10-11 minutes. Makes about 4 dozen.

This is an adaptation of a recipe I found in a family cookbook; it originally called for butter but I experimented and figured out that peanut butter could be substituted if some water was added to get the consistency right. The recipe also called for some butterscotch chips, but these tend to have a lot of trans fat and other crud in them so I substituted the fruit (that wasn't in the original recipe).

[anakiwa]

OK, I would like to try this recipe, but converting from grams to American measurements is very difficult.

As best I can determine:
200g butter equals 0.88 cups of butter.
If you use Maple syrup for the 175g golden syrup, use 1/2 cup. (really 0.54cup)
For 75g brown sugar, use 1/3 cup packed brown sugar (really about 0.34 cup)
for 250g rolled oats, use 1 1/2 cup (really about 1/6 cups)

I hope that helps for all of us in the USA with our household measurements!

I tried this recipe this weekend using roughly the same proportions (and a combo of honey/ maple syrup instead of the sugars listed). Something went horribly wrong- I ended up with oats floating in sugary butter soup. I had assumed that 250 grams of oats is the same as 250 ml of oats (the metric part doesn't really throw me, but I'm used to measuring things by volume not weight). Anyone have an idea where I went wrong???

[BikerDar]

I make the recipe on the Quaker Oatmeal box, substituting applesauce for the oil. They are really tasty and good fuel.

Another favorite is peanut butter/banana/honey burritos.
Flour tortilla, spread some PB, squirt some honey and lay a banana inside then roll it up like a burrito. Stick it in a ziplock and stuff it in your pocket.
Two hours later it's warm yummy gooey fuel.

[BikerDar]

I tried this recipe this weekend using roughly the same proportions (and a combo of honey/ maple syrup instead of the sugars listed). Something went horribly wrong- I ended up with oats floating in sugary butter soup. I had assumed that 250 grams of oats is the same as 250 ml of oats (the metric part doesn't really throw me, but I'm used to measuring things by volume not weight). Anyone have an idea where I went wrong???

I'm intrigued by this recipe! I'm not so good with the metric, but I'm guessing that you really went astray with the oats. On the Quaker box, 1/2 cup is estimated as weighing about 40 grams. So if the recipe calls for 250 grams, that's a little better than 3 cups. I think 250 ml equals about 1 cup, at least it looks that way on my little pyrex measuring cup.

I even have some golden syrup from a friend in Australia who assures me I'll love it!

Gee two posts in a row mentioning Quaker Oats.......this is not a paid endorsement LOL

[lph]

I tried this recipe this weekend using roughly the same proportions (and a combo of honey/ maple syrup instead of the sugars listed). Something went horribly wrong- I ended up with oats floating in sugary butter soup. I had assumed that 250 grams of oats is the same as 250 ml of oats (the metric part doesn't really throw me, but I'm used to measuring things by volume not weight). Anyone have an idea where I went wrong???

Sorry for laughing, but yes, you went wrong The only thing that "weighs the same as it measures" is water, 250ml of water=250g=1 cup. Anything lighter than water, like oats, will weigh less per volume unit.

I'm smiling because I've spent a while trying to explain this to my son, who is gradually learning to cook, and we have had our fair share of "interesting" results when he forgets. We have a very handy measuring cup/dipper thingy that has the corresponding weight units for a few staples (rice, flour, sugar) already measured up and written directly on it so that you can just pour in.

[OakLeaf]

The old Joy of Cooking used to have those conversions, but if you didn't keep an old edition around for that, the bartender's guide, or those lovely wild game recipes, here's my favorite conversion site:

Cooking Conversion Online

You can work your way up to the main homepage for all sorts of everyday useful conversions. Or just browse the conversions from ancient and Biblical measures, torque, free fall rates on Mars ...


But anyway.

Here's a hypoallergenic recipe from The Allergy Self-Help Cookbook that's packed with complete protein, complex carbs, and vitamins of all kinds. I haven't made them in years - I can have soy in moderation, so once I discovered Clif Bars I never went back - but when I did make them, they were pretty tasty and held together well enough to carry on a hike in plastic sandwich bags.

Carrot Survival Sticks (Makes 8 Bars)

2 cups carrots, grated to the texture of coarse meal (use a food processor with the steel blade, a fine grater, or mince coarsely grated carrots 1/2 cup at a time with a knife)
2/3 cup rolled oats
1/3 cup amaranth flour
1/3 cup oat bran
1/3 cup sunflower seeds, groud
2 tbsp sesame seeds (optional)
1/4 tsp anise seeds
1/4 teaspoon vitamin C crystals

3 tbsp oil
2 tbsp honey or molasses
1-2 tbsp water (optional)

Mix all dry ingredients in a bowl (including carrots, which aren't actually dry).

Heat the oil and sweetener in a small saucepan over low heat until the sweetener liquefies. Stir into the carrot mixture. If the mixture is too dry to hold its shape, add a little water.

Shape 1/4 cup of the mixture at a time into a small log, a little shorter and fatter than a hot dog. Place the logs on a non-stick baking sheet. Bake at 350 degrees F for 20 minutes. Turn the logs over, and bake another 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool on wire racks. Store in an airtight container for a few days. Sticks will keep a few days at room temperature, 2 weeks in the refrigerator or a few months in the freezer.

Variations: Replace the amaranth flour with soy powder, ground peanuts, ground tree nuts, ground seeds, or buckwheat flour. Replace the oat bran with rice flour, rice polish or rice bran. Replace the anise seeds with 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon dried herbs or spices of your choice.

[anakiwa]

Thanks guys! -that makes sense (and I was a chemistry major way back when so I should know better )

[violette]

I tried this recipe this weekend using roughly the same proportions (and a combo of honey/ maple syrup instead of the sugars listed). Something went horribly wrong- I ended up with oats floating in sugary butter soup. I had assumed that 250 grams of oats is the same as 250 ml of oats (the metric part doesn't really throw me, but I'm used to measuring things by volume not weight). Anyone have an idea where I went wrong???

I made this last night with a few changes:

2 cups of rolled oats (instant)
1 cup bran
1/2 cup honey
1 cup light peanut butter
1 egg, beaten
1/3 cup of sunflower seeds and raising (more or less)

Pat in a 8" x 8" baking pan. Bake at 350 for 30 min. cut and refrigerate.

I gave a sample to my husband and kids and I had to fight them off. My husband begged me to put some in his lunch...Ha ha!