More oatmeal breakfast bar goodness

My first batch of the oatmeal cookies is running dangerously low (already...) so I decided it was time for round two. This time, I attempted to recreate my very favoritest Cool Mint Chocolate ClifBars.

My recipe:
3 c. oats (NOT instant oatmeal)
1 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
3/4 c. applesauce
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. mint extract
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder

Step 1. Mix together the applesauce and sugar.
Step 2. Add the rest of the liquid ingredients.
Step 3. Add all the solid ingredients. Adding the cocoa powder and flour before the oatmeal will make this easier to mix.
Step 4. Form 12 equal bars on a greased baking pan and bake for 10 minutes at 375 F.


The Results:
It definitely doesn't taste like ClifBars, but it doesn't taste bad, either. It was a little to minty (even for me, who loves mint with the great passion of a thousand suns) and not chocolaty enough. I would suggest cutting down to 1 tsp or even 1/2 tsp of mint extract, and either adding more cocoa powder, or adding some dark chocolate chunks. It also has a very different texture from Clifbars; because of the baking soda, they're much lighter and fluffier.

In terms of nutritional breakdown, it's slightly inferior, but somewhat comparable to a ClifBar.

Nutritional Data for ClifBar:
Serving size- 68g
Calories- 250
Fat- 5 g
Carbs- 43g
Protein- 10g

Nutritional data for my creation:
Serving Size- 60g
Calories- 260
Fat- 3.5g
Carbs- 49g
Protein- 9g

My next attempts will probably be more like a cookie, and I'll be trying out some spices suggested to me, like cloves and allspice. I also might take a jaunt down to Winco and see if they sell any protein powder in bulk, and experiment with mixing some of that in.

Pictures of all this will be forthcoming, when I figure out who in the house has the friggin' digital camera and steal it from.

My return (marked with oatmeal cookies)

So, I kinda forgot about this whole blog thing.
Not that I have any delusions of grandeur about anyone ever reading it, anyways.

I was searching the intarwebs for a good, lowfat oatmeal cookie that I could eat for breakfast. Kind of like those 90 calorie Quaker breakfast cookies. I found one here that I was able to modify for my needs.

First thing I did was take out the raisins. I have never quite been sure why everyone thinks that raisins and oatmeal are best buds. They're not. Raisins are nobody's best bud because they are disgusting and squishy and generally ruin everything they're put in.

I also upped the vanilla and cinnamon considerably, cuz that's how I roll.

My new recipe:
3 c. oats (NOT instant oatmeal)
1 c. flour (I used whole wheat)
3/4 c. applesauce
3/4 c. brown sugar
1 egg
1/3 c. milk
1/2 tsp. baking soda
2-3 tsp. vanilla extract
2-3 tsp. cinnamon

1. Mix the applesauce and the brown sugar together until the sugar is completely dissolved.
2. Mix in the egg, milk, vanilla, and cinnamon.
3. Mix in the other dry ingredients. Let it sit for a little while while you preheat the oven to 375 F, grease the baking sheets, and clean up a little. This will let the moisture absorb into the oats.
4. If you want cookies, drop by the teaspoon onto the baking sheets. If you would rather have something more like a breakfast bar, drop about 2 tbsp of dough in a vaguely rectangular-ish form. Bake for 8-10 minutes. I would suggest you make it closer to the 10 than the 8. I took mine out at 8 minutes, paranoid that they would become brick hard once they cooled, but they weren't quite done.

And there you have it. The batch I made came out to about 30 cookies. I ran all the numbers, and here's the nutritional data per cookie:
Calories- 110
Fat-1.5
Carbohydrates-20.5
Protein-3.6

These things are friggin' FANTASTIC. I wish I'd found this recipe 3 months ago so I could have made a bunch up to eat when I had 1st period class every day. I was a little skeptical at first about replacing the oil/butter normally in oatmeal cookies with applesauce, but they turned out very tasty. I would even say you could probably cut out 1/4 c. of the sugar, because they are very sweet.

I will probably do a little dinking around with this recipe to replicate my favorite Clif-Bars. Next on the list is chocolate and peppermint. MMM-mmmm...