Crevasse Bars

After the Westies weekend in the Lakes a couple of people asked me about the Crevasse Bars I made.

They are my attempt to save a couple of quid and improve upon commercially available bars. How they compare to energy bars, gels and the like at delivering carbohydrate intake per hour remains untested in the lab. They do pack a fair amount of calories, survive when half frozen on a mountain and taste yumdidlyumptious.

All measurements are rough and need experimenting with.

Ingredients & utensils

• 3 Mugs of oats, large oats work best.
• 1 Handful of dates, pitted
• ½ Handful of dried apricots
• ½ Handful of dried strawberries
• ½ Fist full of unsalted pistachio nuts
• ½ Mug of peanut butter
• 2 Spoons of honey and/or golden syrup
• 400g ish of Chocolate. The more the better. A pro tip is to find a massive cheap knock-off Reese chocolate peanut bar which some UK supermarkets sell. But all chocolate works.

• Frying pan
• Mixing Bowl
• Board
• Wax paper or similar to cover the board
• Stove top
• Fridge

Instructions

• Heat your oats in the frying pan on low for 10mins or so.
• Chop up the dates, apricots, strawberries and pistachio nuts.
• Microwave (or if you’re real fancy use a bain-marie) 80% of your chocolate and all your peanut butter so they become a pliable-almost-liquid heaven.
• Add the warm oats to the heated chocolate, chopped dates, apricots, strawberries, pistachio nuts and spoons of honey and golden syrup (as if you weren’t going to use both!).
• Mix it all up, use your hands.
• Spread it out onto a covered tray and pat it down flat to your desired thickness (19mm is my preference) and stick it in the fridge for a few of hours or until you can no longer stand your urge of immediate gratification and acknowledge your lack of will power.
• Remove the tray of glory from the fridge and inspect. If the structural integrity looks like it can survive a run then you are done and can eat the 20% left over chocolate. If your creation is looking a little delicate then heat that 20% chocolate and add it as a delicious surface level bonding agent and return to the fridge.
• Once you’re happy with your creation cut it up into bars and enjoy on your next long run up a hill or on your sofa.

Crevasse Bars – fill the gap.