Muesli Bar

I had some great news about glucose for Cook's Sponge readers recently, but it was tempered somewhat by the news that glucose eaters really need to stop eating sugar - the two don't go well together. However, if you're doing the glucose thing, it is great news!






And it is ... glucose syrup. I don't know what has taken me so long to pick some up and try it out. I have seen it often in the baking section of the supermarket, but was so focused on the need to use powdered glucose to replace sugar, that I forgot about the obvious uses for liquid glucose.

We're huge fans of muesli bar in this household. Well, Reuben is especially. I use a recipe that was given to me by a friend in London (we call them muesli bars, they call them flapjacks) and have changed it quite significantly over time to make it less sweet and a little healthier. The challenge of making muesli bar stick together without a massive pile of sugar is one I have been aware of for a long time.

So I recently put these problems together with the solution of glucose syrup and the results were fantastic. I swapped the golden syrup in the original recipe for half honey, half glucose syrup, and took out all the sugar. The glucose syrup, while it looks innocent in its clear plastic container, is outstandingly sticky, so if you can fight it off the spoon it does an amazing job at sticking those oats together. Finally!

The result is not very sweet, but I'm happy with that, and the honey gives it a little bit of something that I think it needs.

The recipe below is the basic one, obviously you can add anything you like... chopped nuts, seeds, dried fruit if you're happy adding more sugar. I'm including sultanas and ground ginger in this recipe because they're our usuals.

Muesli Bar

250g butter

1/4 cup honey

1/4 cup glucose syrup or golden syrup

4 heaped cups rolled oats

1 teaspoon ground ginger
1/2 cup sultanas

Melt the liquids, stir in the dry.

Spread out in a tin, preferably an expandable one. 

Bake at 180 degrees for approximately 15 minutes. Look for a golden edge starting to form. 

Slice when cool.