Esther, in her support for my marathon, has found a way to make DIY Clif Bar. We have tried a few iterations of these including a Cherry Walnut formed into a similar form factor as the venerable Clif Bar. I was happy with the flavor, so was Hazel, our ~1.5 year old daughter. It was great, but the size was a little large for my run feed.
I found pulling a DIY Clif Bar out of my pack on last weeks long run, was just a little too big for me to eat in a few small bites. I found my self running with the bar for the better part of half a mile.
Last night, Esther and I made a new batch of DI Clif bars… Err balls. Esther and I talked about how we could tweak the form factor of the bars to make smaller bits that don’t stick together, like a cut up Clif Bar. So we made Clif’s Balls.
Clif’s Balls Recipes
Ingredients
1 and 1/4 cups crisp rice cereal (e.g., Rice Krispies)
2/3 cup uncooked quick-cooking oats
3 tablespoons ground flaxseed (flaxseed meal)- if you don’t have it, no worries
1/4 cup finely chopped dried fruit (e.g., raisins, dried cranberries, dried cherries, etc.)
1/4 cup finely chopped nuts (preferably roasted or toasted)
1/4 cup brown rice syrup (or honey, maple syrup, or light molasses)
2 tablespoons dark brown sugar
1/3 cup nut butter (e.g., peanut, almond, cashew, soynut)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (if you don’t have it, oh well!)
Optional: 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon, little chocolate chips, etc…
Directions
Combine the rice cereal, oats, flaxseed meal, dried fruit, and nuts in a large bowl.
Bring the syrup and brown sugar to a boil in a small saucepan over medium-high heat, stirring constantly; remove from heat. Stir in nut butter and vanilla until blended.
Pour nut butter mixture over cereal mixture, stirring until coated (mixture will be stiff). Press mixture firmly into an 8-inch square pan (sprayed with nonstick cooking spray) using a large square of wax paper. Cool in pan on a wire rack. Cut into 12 bars. (Wrap bars tightly in plastic wrap and store in the refrigerator). Or…. instead of pressing the mixture into an 8 inch pan, make little balls and let them set up on a cookie sheet in the fridge overnight (cover with plastic wrap or a kitchen towel)- then put them in little baggies the next day!)
• Nutrition per serving (1 bar) or 3-4 little mini balls
• Calories 228; Fat 7.4g (poly 2.3g, mono 4.1g, sat 0.9g); Protein 10.8g; Cholesterol 5mg; Carbohydrate 34.3g; Sodium 156mg)