Marathon Bars

So, firstly for a little blog upkeep. I have been a terrible blogger over the Easter holidays, but I hope that you all had a most wonderful time over the the last few weeks. This year I partook in not a single bit of Easter cooking, and I blame my blogging silence entirely on being home and waitressing. 

However, before I left for home I did manage to leave Ben some carb ridden treats to keep him going in my absence. The Brighton marathon is very nearly upon us, tomorrow in fact, and Ben has been consuming an insane amount of calories (this evening he ate a steak the size of my face, a copious amount of potato, and still has porridge to go before bed time). I decided to make him some nutty oaty bars, or as I like to call them Marathon Bars, to help keep his energy up during long training sessions. These bars are crammed full of tasty nuts, seeds and dried fruit, providing all the right vitamins and nutrients for those with the most active of lifestyles, and they taste very tasty too. 

Seems like I might be making a lot more of these bars in the future, as I too have caught the exercising bug, I now go to the gym (Shock Horror). Any excuse to eat more baked goods!!

175g honey

100g soft brown sugar

100g crunchy peanut butter

125ml sunflower oil

150g porridge oats

75g dries blueberries

60g mixed seeds

50g peanuts

1. Line a square tin with baking parchment and preheat the oven to 160C.
2. Warm the sugar, honey, peanut butter and oil in a pan, stirring constantly until combined.
3. Mix all the remaining ingredients together in a bowl, and pour over the honey mixture, stirring well.
4. Press into the tin and bake for around 25 minutes until the top is turning golden. 
5. Cut into bars whilst still in the tin, leave to cool completely, and then turn out and slice.

Thought it might be worth adding the link of Ben’s JustGiving page to the end of this very much marathon related post. Ben is raising as much as he can for the brilliant UK based charity Hope and Homes for Children, which moves children out of orphanages and institutions in Central and Eastern Europe and into the loving support of a family. If you could make any donation at all it would be most appreciated. Visit Ben’s page here. THANK YOU!!