Filling tummies with Fruity Puff Bars

My weekly baking routine now includes a "lunch box element" and I thought I would dedicate this week to sharing some of our favourite lunch box snacks with you. This first recipe is my adaptation of the LTM's (little thermomix munchies) from the Thermomix Lunchbox Booklet. Whilst my kids love the original version from the booklet, there is no way I would ever send them to school with the amount of sugar and sweetener that is in them. I was stunned to read earlier today that Mum's were even adding marshmallows into that mix. Surely those bars were not destined for school. Surely! All I can say is be kind to us poor teachers and to the poor kids trying to learn while they are "buzzing".

A big bonus of this relatively healthy wholegrain recipe is that it makes oodles. Today I wrapped up 16 decent sized bars from 1 batch. Imagine the cost of buying 16 organic LCM bars from a store. Yikes! It is pretty easy to see how the thermomix can save families lots of money each year just in muesli bars. Anyway here is my version of this recipe:

Fruity Puff Bars

Ingredients:

110g butter
90g rapadura
70g organic honey
1 tsp homemade vanilla extract
90g puffed brown rice
40g organic shredded coconut
70g dried sultanas, craisins or chopped dried apricots

Method:

Place butter, rapadura and honey into TMX bowl and heat at 100 degrees, for 6 minutes on speed 3. Add the vanilla extract in the last minute.

Add the remaining ingredients and mix for 20 seconds on reverse speed 3.

Scrape mixture into a baking tin lined with baking paper. Spread out and press down very firmly with hands (don't squash the rice but be firm).

Refrigerate and slice into bars when firm.

The original recipe says that these bars freeze fine. I have some bars in the freezer now and will report back how they go later in the week.