Gluten Free Bars

Gluten intolerance is surprisingly common and even snack bar manufacturers have caught on and have contributed to the wide range of gluten free bars in the market. The thing that’s most appealing about snack bars is the fact that they qualify as full meals, taste great and are readily available. Just like regular granola bars, gluten free bars are as nutritionally satisfactory as well.

For instance most gluten free bars contain high amounts of protein, anti-oxidants, vitamins and minerals and very little fat and sugar.  But what if you are the kind of person who enjoys home cooked everything? Fear not, gluten free bars can be made at home with ease, costs little and you can use whatever you like to add to the flavor instead of being disappointed at the store bought variants.

What you need to make your own gluten free bars is easy enough to find, basically, you need a selection of various gluten free grains and dried fruits as the main ingredients. As grains, you can use corn, gluten free oats, soy or TVP, rice, millet or any other grain that is guaranteed to be gluten free.

As for the fruits, you can use dried versions of whatever fruits you like. A few suggestions would be raisins, caramelized pineapple, dried peach, dates and cherries. You are free to add any kind of nuts that you think would make the combination better such as almonds, pecans or walnuts.

Now that we have all the ingredients together, now it’s time to decide on a sweetening and binding agent. The most popular choice is bees honey; you are free to add sugar syrup if you like. The next step is to combine the sweetening agent with some olive oil and bring it to boil. Add the fruits, nuts and grains in to the mixture and mix well until everything is coated with the syrup. You can add cinnamon in to this mix if you wish. Once everything is well combined, pour the mixture in to a greased baking tin and bake in an oven at a temperature of 350 degrees Celsius for ten to fifteen minutes until it turns golden brown. Let it cool completely and cut in to bars and enjoy. These make great gift items as well as snacks as all you need to do is to wrap each gluten free bar in colored cellophane and pile them up in a basket and give away.