Homemade Fruit Bars Recipe, How to Make 3 Healthy Peanut and Dry Fruit Energy Bars

These inexpensive, healthy and easy peanut and fruit bars recipe will yield 3 different versions of homemade energy bars that you can carry for a quick snack or pick-me-up, and can be consumed plain, or make them into spicy or salty flavors. They are all delicious.

Why I ❤️ it • Recipe • Ingredients • Preparation

Why I ❤️ it

We've all been there: hungry, hangry, and with no time to attack a whole meal. Fear not, you don't need to buy expensive commercial fruit bars of dubious qualities.

I'm always looking for good alternatives, preferably homemade, because the commercial ones are either cloyingly sweet, or taste like sawdust. I love nuts (hey, you are what you eat!), and peanuts are one of my favorites, plus readily available. Make these at home, and even adapt them to your own taste. Wrap them in earth-friendly materials and keep refrigerated for a long time.

This free recipe contains Amazon affiliate links, and I receive a small commission when you purchase, at no cost to you. Thank you!

Utensils and tools

• Baking sheet
• Silicone liner (or parchment paper)
• Oven

Ingredients

• 6 cups of unsalted roasted peanuts
• ½ pound [0.23 kg] of dehydrated fruit of your choice
• ½ teaspoon of salt
• 8 tablespoons of honey at room temperature
• Some oil to grease your hands and parchment paper

For the salty option (optional)

• 1 teaspoon of coarse sea salt, crush a bit if the grains are too big

For the spicy option (optional)

• 1 tablespoon chili flakes

Preparation

Before starting, please make sure you have all the ingredients and utensils ready.

Step 1: Heat the oven

Heat oven to 300 ºF [150 ºC].

Line a baking sheet with silicone liner or parchment paper.

Step 2: Pulse the peanut

In the food processor pulse the peanut until the beans are broken into a third of their size.

Pulse the fruit separately until they are broken into bean-sized pieces.

Step 3: Combine

In a large bowl, combine peanut, fruit, salt and honey. Mix well until everything is coated in honey.

Spread evenly on the lined baking sheet to about half an inch (1.5 centimeters) layer.

Step 4: Bake

Bake for 30 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven and cool to room temperature.

Step 5: Wrapping the bars

Grease your hands with some oil and press down to compact it.

Chill them in the fridge for an hour. While still chilled, cut them into bars. Wrap the bars in waxed paper (before wrapping you may add chili or salt per notes below).

Variations

Spicy fruit bar snack

Sprinkle the bars with chili flakes prior to wrapping.

Salty fruit bar

Sprinkle the bars with coarse salt prior to wrapping.

Peanut-free

If you are allergic to peanuts, but can tolerate nuts, you can use that instead of peanuts.

Dessert-style

These Lucky Charms Bars are a more dessert-like bar recipe that you may want to try.

Top tips

Store wrapped individually in an air-tight container in the fridge for up to two weeks. Let it warm to room temperature before eating.

Notes

At room temperature these dehydrated fruit bars are chewy, rich. The small amount of salt added to them lifts the sweetness in the fruit and honey, so it actually feels sweeter than it is. Chilled they are harder, perfect for those of us who like to exercise our chompers while we still have them.

After I wrapped them I sealed them with pretty washi tapes and stuck little notes to them. Today I found a sticky note on my computer. It read: "mommy's peanut bars are the best". You see, that's the kind of endorsement companies paid Betty White good money for.

Nutritional information

Calories: 258kcal - Carbohydrates: 19g - Protein: 10g - Fat: 18g - Saturated Fat: 3g - Sodium: 162mg - Potassium: 360mg - Fiber: 4g - Sugar: 6g - Vitamin A: 100IU - Vitamin C: 0.6mg - Calcium: 43mg - Iron: 1.8mg

Nutrition in peanuts

Peanuts are very nutrient-dense, they provide more than 30 of the essential nutrients our body needs. In fact nearly each of the nutrients we need are present in peanuts in greater or lesser quantities. Niacin, magnesium, phosphorus, fibers, folate, vitamin E and a whopping 25% protein content. No saturated fats and it tastes good? It's like the perfect food.

FAQs

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