Versatile, easy to make and healthy … recipes for tasty treats like this are exactly what every mom needs to have up her sleeve.
A passionate cook, traveller and mother of two boys, Danielle du Toit knows what it takes to keep small people happy and well fed. Her company, Pheka, offers a range of services, including cooking courses for domestic workers and kids, private lessons and catering. Danielle was inspired during lockdown to post daily recipes, share inspiration and help out during a challenging time for all. Her criteria for the recipes were that they had to be healthy, have simple ingredients and be easy to follow. The response was phenomenal. As a result, she recently launched a cookbook, Pheka: fresh simple cooking. She shared a recipe from her book with us.
CHEWY ENERGY BARS
These bars have a chewy texture and are loaded with dried fruit. Perfect for a tea-time treat or a burst of energy for the school lunch box!
You’ll need: 125g butter, ¼ cup of honey, 1 cup raw oats, ¼ cup of raisins, ¼ cup of cranberries, ¼ cup of chopped dried peaches or mango (or whatever you have at home), ¾ cup of self-raising flour, ½ cup of brown sugar, a handful of your choice of seeds and/or nuts (sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds or chopped almonds, etc.)
To make: Pre-heat the oven to 170ºC and prepare a baking tray (approximately 20x20cm) line the tray with tin foil or baking paper and add a gentle spray of non-stick spray melt the butter and honey in a small pot (or microwave) and set to one side in a big mixing bowl mix the oats, raisins, cranberries, chopped dried fruit, flour and sugar and chosen nuts/seeds add the melted butter and honey and mix with a wooden spoon using a spatula press the mixture into a prepared baking tray to a thickness of about two centimetres until the surface is smooth (if your tray is too big, rather just use the one side of the tray as you don’t want the energy bars to be too thin as they’ll break when you them cut later on) bake for about 20 to 25 minutes or until golden, but not too brown. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool in the tray. Then lift out of the tray, peel off the foil or baking paper and place the whole bake onto a paper towel to absorb the extra butter or honey. After that cut into even-sized bars or squares. Don’t try and cut too soon when still warm, as the bars will be too soft and fall apart once the energy bars are completely cool, store in an airtight container Note If you’re not a fan of certain dried fruits just leave them out, as with the selection of seeds and nuts. Both the sugar and honey can be cut back a little if you find the bars are too sweet for your taste.
Details: www.pheka.co.za, 072 261 5192, [email protected], FB: phekadurban, IG: phekafood
