Homemade Energy Bars

Homemade Energy Bars -- easy and tastes better than store-bought. Make a batch for the week!

Happy New Year! If you follow me on Instagram, you may recall I went a little Homemade Energy Bar crazy this past fall as I dove into my friend Camilla Saulsbury’s new book, Power Hungry: The Ultimate Energy Bar Cookbook (she also writes the Power Hungry blog). The bars in this cookbook are not only healthy and nutrient-rich, but they’re also beautiful (which, honestly, isn’t a word I ever thought I’d ascribe to an energy bar!). But they really are little all-natural works of art.

Power Hungry, by Camilla V. Saulsbury
I’m far from an endurance athlete (very, very far) but I do try to get to the gym semi-regularly. More importantly, I have two active kids who need to bring healthy snacks with them to school. The granola bars in Power Hungry have made perfect portable snacks. The recipes are also easy enough for my kids to even help making them — it’s mostly a matter of measuring and mixing. They’ve enjoyed choosing the different nuts, seeds and dried fruits to include — many of the bars are highly customizable, and Camilla offers a slew of variation options.



The bars you see above are called Moonbeam Bars in the book, created to be similar to the Luna bars you can buy in a store. With that little dip of white chocolate glaze on the end, these were practically a treat (they made it easier for me to cut back on cookies :-)). There’s a whole section of “Super-Natural Knock-Offs” so you can make your own homemade versions of popular store-bought bars.

The Pumpkin Pie Power Bars above come from the section of “Endurance Bars” recipes, which are designed for fueling up before a workout. These tasted great and, surprisingly enough, contain no fat! As with so many of the recipes in this book, this one came with five more variations, including this mini chocolate chip option.

I decided to share this recipe for Camilla’s Friend Bars because it’s a homemade version of my favorite Kind bars I’ve picked up many times at Starbucks. They’re crunchy, chewy, a little bit sweet and you can pretty much add any nuts, seeds and fruits that you like. Now, if I can just get myself to the gym. 🙂

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10 Comments

  1. I’ve been looking for a recipe like this! I would love to have a few of these around as afternoon snacks.

    Posted 1.7.14 Reply
  2. Mike from Class wrote:

    My favorite are the Pumpkin Pie Power Bars, although I do love the colors in the Friend Bar. Great photo!

    Posted 1.7.14 Reply
  3. I Love the flexibility of this recipe, makes it easier for those of us with food allergies, plus it looks delish!

    Posted 1.7.14 Reply
  4. Jen wrote:

    Sounds delicious! But what is crisp brown rice cereal? Do you have a brand name to suggest?

    Posted 1.7.14 Reply
    • Hi Jen – It’s basically brown Rice Krispies. 🙂 I used the Erewhon brand — you can probably find them in your regular grocery store, otherwise try Trader Joe’s or Whole Foods (I used the Erewhon brand).

      Posted 1.7.14 Reply
  5. I am always looking for healthy snacks for the kids! Thanks for sharing!

    Posted 1.8.14 Reply
  6. Js wrote:

    These are outstanding! Simple to make and great to take to work in the morning. They don’t fall apart or break your teeth. 😉 thanks!

    Posted 8.20.14 Reply
  7. Melissa wrote:

    The energy bars tasted great, but had alot of corn syrup left in bottom of the pan. Is the recipe right …. you only added 1/2 c brown rice cereal? Is it supposed to be more like 1 1/2 c?

    Posted 12.16.14 Reply
    • Hi Melissa — I checked and the amount listed is correct. You used brown rice syrup, correct? Camilla notes in the recipe that substituting other syrup won’t work here. ~Kathy

      Posted 12.16.14 Reply
    • Correction: she does say light corn syrup should work. I know I used brown rice syrup and it worked great, so maybe the issue is with the syrup somehow?

      Posted 12.16.14 Reply