I don’t know whether to call this crunchy goodness energy bars or cookies. They seem to bring out the child in everyone I share them with, and I think it’s because they’re a little reminiscent of rice krispie treats. That first crunchy bite is always followed by a smile. I think of them as energy bars and grab one when I’m headed out to Pilates or for a pick me up in the afternoon. But they are certainly yummy enough to eat as a sweet treat or dessert!
So what’s with the odd name?.. I can explain. This recipe is lightly adapted from the long-awaited (and my new favorite) cookbook: The Oh She Glows Cookbook by Angela Liddon. Angela has an award-winning vegan recipe website of the same name, ohsheglows.com.
Sweet, crunchy, chewy and so easy to make! And as Angela says, they make great gifts. I made this batch for a dear friend’s birthday.
Ingredients
- 2/3 cup pecans, finely chopped
- 2 cups rolled oats
- 1 2/3 cups rice crisp cereal
- 1/3 cup pepita seeds
- 1/3 cup dried, sweetened cranberries
- 1 1/2 tsps ground cinnamon
- 1/4 heaping tsp salt
- 2/3 cup brown rice syrup
- 1/3 cup almond butter
- 1 1/2 tsps vanilla
Instructions
- Line a 9x12 rectangular pan with parchment paper, allowing the paper to come up over the edges of the pan. (You will use these later to lift the bars out of the pan.
- Spread the pecans evenly in a skillet and toast over medium heat until lightly browned. Set aside to cool.
- In a large bowl, combine oats, rice cereal, pepita seeds, cranberries, cinnamon and salt. Stir in cooled toasted pecans.
- In a small saucepan, stir together brown rice syrup and almond butter until smooth. Cook over medium heat until it softens and bubbles slightly. Keep an eye on it or it will burn! Remove from heat and stir in vanilla.
- Pour the nut butter mixture over the oat mixture. Stir until the dry ingredients are coated. It'll be sticky and a little hard to stir.
- Transfer to the prepared pan and spread the mixture out evenly. With lightly moistened hands, pat the mixture down to even it out. You can use a pasty roller to press it down evenly. Press the edges well to ensure they're flat.
- Place the pan in the freezer, uncovered, and chill for 10 minutes until set.
- Lift it out of the pan using the parchment paper handles and place on cutting board. Cut with a knife or pizza roller into 16 bars cutting once long ways, then cut each long rectangle in half. Then cut each of those into 4 bars. You can cut the bars in half or thirds for cookie-sized bites.
- The original recipe suggests individually wrapping the bars in plastic wrap or foil, but I just stack them in a container with wax paper between the layers and store them in the fridge. They'll keep up to 2 weeks in the refrigerator or up to a month in the freezer.
Notes
If you want to make these gluten free, just use gluten free rolled oats.
Tip: Replace the cinnamon with pumpkin pie spice for a holiday flair!
Fix it! Plan Photos by: Bill Peterson Galleries 
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Is it possible to substitute agave syrup for brown rice syrup? I made these bars and they were falling apart when I used the agave syrup, however, my peanut butter was also very oily; perhaps I should have dug down to the bottom of the jar. I’m just playing around, and still enjoying eating my crumbly bars. I think this is a really good recipe, just wondering if anyone’s tried substitutions for the brown rice syrup.
Sarah I haven’t tried these with agave but I suspect it wouldn’t work. The brown rice syrup/peanut butter mixture seems to harden as it cools and I doubt agave would do that. Angela at Oh She Glows who created the recipe indicates in some of her other recipes not to sub agave for the brown rice syrup because it doesn’t harden enough. By the way, in case you haven’t seen it, her Mocha Empower Glo Bars are also delicious!
would it be possible to list the nutrition facts. I especially need the carb count for my insulin pump
Sorry for the slow reply Yvonne, this comment went to spam. I checked the “Oh She Glows” cookbook to see if Angela posted the nutritional data but she didn’t, so I put it all in a program I use and here’s what I came up with. If you cut the bars to make 12 servings, then each bar is 196 calories, 24.75g carb, 6.4g protein, 8g fat, 2.6g fiber and 10g sugars. Hope that helps!
Love these bars! But it looks like you left out the brown rice syrup (used in step 4) from the original ingredient list.
Wow thanks so much Chelsey! I discovered over the weekend that there was a less expensive seller of the brown rice syrup at Amazon, and when I updated that link I messed up the text. Fixed now, thanks to you!
I’ll tell you what to call this crunchy goodness: heaven. That’s what you call it. I am giddy with happiness over making these. They and your raw brownies are my absolute favorite Julie recipes.
An Oh She Glows cookbook?! I may need to go order a copy on Amazon.
Dayna you will love that cookbook!
Thanks Julie!