These Quick and Easy Powerbars are the perfect snack when you need something on the run. I recently made a massive amount of these to take to some hungry medical students and they disappeared quickly! These homemade powerbars don’t take long to make and are chock-full of goodness.
To be honest, I wouldn’t have thought to share this recipe on my blog. However, I had quite a few people direct message me on Instagram asking for the recipe after I posted a story showing the powerbars. So, I decided to throw together a post and share this tasty snack.
I thought I’d give a bit of a backstory to these easy powerbars. As I mentioned before, I made a large amount of these powerbars to take to the first year students at the Mayo Clinic School of Medicine. That’s because every other Friday during my husband’s anatomy block I decided I wanted to bring his class food the morning of their practice practical. Luckily there are only 54 students so it was doable.
The first Friday I chose to surprise everyone with these blueberry streusel muffins from a Little Sweet Baker and these pumpkin muffins (adding in chocolate chips of course!) from Skip to My Lou.
Let’s just say I was baking for a long time the day before and thought that I bit off more than I could chew! Mostly it was because I completely ruined a batch of gluten-free pumpkin muffins I tried to make with coconut flour (bad choice of flour apparently for this particular muffin recipe). Did I mention that I tripled the recipe? Ya…it called for 9 eggs… I had a really hard time throwing away all the batter. BUT that is a story for another day!
The second time I went for something more simple and made my delicious dinner rolls. I paired them with butter, Nutella, peanut butter, or jelly.
The third round I decided to make these quick and easy powerbars. I increased the recipe 5x and it made just over 100 bars so everyone could have two.
People have asked me why I bother spending so much time making 54 medical students food. You see, food is one way I show my love and support. Food is often the first thing I resort to when someone is in need. You could say it is my love language.
But, the main reason I decided to start bundling my daughter up, loading her and the food in the car, and making the trek to the med school early in the morning is simply so that I could be more involved. More involved with my husband’s schooling and life. We don’t get to see him often, so if I can show my support and love by providing something simple for him and his classmates, I am more than happy to do so. I want him to know I am his number one fan!
I also wanted to be more involved with his classmates. We are all in this for at least four years! I want to get to know them. I want my daughter to get to know them. It’s the relationships that we create during medical school that will be an amazing bonus.
I could easily have stopped this little Friday practice practical tradition after my first muffin mishap, but I am so glad I didn’t. It has been rewarding to do something small to boost the class’ spirits. Plus, it has allowed me to see my husband in his element and be involved in his school day – even just for 20 minutes.
So, enjoy these quick and easy powerbars! (recipe below!) Definitely save some for yourself, but I hope you’ll share a couple with someone who could use a boost too!
Keep scrolling for recipe!
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Easy Banana Chocolate Chip Muffins
| Prep Time | 5 mins |
| Cook Time | 10 mins |
| Servings |
bars
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- 2 1/2 cups rice crispies
- 1 cup oatmeal
- 1/4 cup butter
- 1/2 cup peanut butter
- 10 oz marshmallows
- 1/2 cup craisins substitute with raisins
- 1/2 cup peanuts substitute with almonds or any other nut
- 1/2 cup coconut flakes
- 1/2 cup chocolate chips substitute with M&Ms
- 1/3 cup flax seed
- 1/3 cup chia seed
Ingredients
|
|
- Cereal mixture: combine rice crispies and oatmeal in a bowl. Set aside.
- Mix ins: combine craisins, peanuts, coconut flakes, chocolate chips, flax seed, and chia seed in a separate bowl. Set aside.
- Peanut butter mixture: melt butter, peanut butter, and marshmallows in a large pot on medium high until ingredients are fully melted. Be sure to mix continuously so it doesn't burn.
- Pour peanut butter mixture over cereal mixture slowly, folding in as you pour.
- Stir in mix ins.
- Spray cookie sheet with cooking spray and flatten out powerbar mixture. Place saran wrap over the cookie sheet and put in fridge for 1-2 hours or until they are hardened and ready to cut.
- Remove from fridge. Cut into bars. Wrap in saran wrap and store in cool place, fridge, or sealed container. Enjoy!
- *Instead of cutting into bars, you could roll powerbar mixture into desired shape or use muffin tins to create circular powerbars. *Switch out any of the mix ins to customize your powerbars to your liking!
