Recovery Bars

I'm not sure why I did this, other than powerbars have the mystique of being the endurance athlete's icon for food. I am not a fan of powerbars while riding, because they are just too hard to eat, and well actually most my races are too short for substantial food. I do enjoy them prior and after long hard rides though. I knew from the start that homemade power bars would fall into the category of home made French bread. Its better and cheaper to get it from the store. I have yet to have home made French bread that is better than what I can buy at the store. The same goes for ketchup and pickles. Anyway I did a bit of research on the web and here is what I came up with.

The results were unspectacular. They were edible, but lacked taste. Malto Dextrin is something that is really a sugar substitute, something that is slower burning, but I'm not so sure I buy all that. It is readily available at Beer Making stores. Next time I add more salt and more sweetener, like some honey, or just plain white sugar. Read the label of a power bar. Its got plenty of that high fructose corn syrup.

1 cup Grape Nuts
1 cup Oats
1/2 cup raisons
1/3 cup Whey Protein Powder
1/3 cup Malto Dextrin

1 cup Almonds
1 tsp salt
1 tsp vegetable oil
1 tbl brown sugar
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground clove

3/4 cup apple juice

cooking spray

First toast almonds
Preheat oven to 250.
Add 1 cup of whole almonds to a baking tray. Work in 1 tbl vegetable oil and sprinkle with 1 tsp salt. Bake for 20 minutes. I find this enhances the flavor of any nut.
While that is cooking...

Add grape nuts and oats to a food processor. Process for about 30 seconds or so until the mixture still has some texture, and not quite a flour. Add this a mixing bowl. Add remaining ingredients to bowl except the fruit juice. Once nuts are done, then process 1/2 cup of them in the food processor for about 1 minute. Any more and it will turn into Almond butter which is good too. The other 1/2 cup is a good snack to eat while cooking.

Add nuts to mixing bowl. Mix all ingredients. Add 1/2 cup of apple juice. Stir until all the juice is absorbed and the dry ingredients, well are not dry anymore. This might take a bit less or a bit more, but its not critical. Keep adding more juice until the dough is about the consistency of wet concrete, sorry that's what it reminded me of.
Spread with your hands in an oiled 8x8 baking dish. Bake 25 to 30 minutes in a 350 oven until edges turn dark brown. Remove from oven, slice into bars.

Oh yeah, click the picture to see the real product.