Our third and final healthy Halloween Treat is a dark chocolate chunk studded version of our crispy sunflower squares. Don't forget to visit Colavita's Facebook page to enter the Halloween sweets giveaway. Details here.
There's always a ziploc bag with some sort of snack (or snack remnants) in my gym bag. Lately, my go to snack has been this Athlete Food take on Rice Krispy Treats. Before you get too excited, there are no marshmallows involved. Instead, sunflower seed butter, honey and brown rice syrup hold the crispies together, offering a rich sweetness. Cocao nibs and hempseeds add bonus nutrients and protein. When I want to make these squares more of a sweet treat, I'll add some chopped dark chocolate.
A few of these squares keep me going between workouts, but they’d also make a sweet after school treat.
--Bec
Crispy Sunflower Squares
4 cups brown rice crisps cereal
1 tablespoon coconut oil
½ cup brown rice syrup
½ cup sunflower seed butter
1 tablespoon honey
¼ cup cocao nibs
2 tablespoons hemp seeds
pinch of maldon sea salt flakes
In a large microwaveable bowl, melt the coconut oil. Add rice syrup, sunflower butter and honey to the bowl with the coconut oil and stir to combine. Put bowl back in the microwave and cook on high for 45 seconds. Stir mixture again, making sure the ingredients are well combined. Add cereal one cup at a time, stirring between additions to make sure all of the crispies are coated with syrup mixture.
Mix in cacao nibs and hemp seeds.
Transfer mixture to a glass baking dish and firmly press into place. You may have to muscle it, but you want the mixture compact so it dosn't fall apart when you cut them. Sprinkle sea salt evenly on top and press it into the bars. Chill the bars in the refrigerator for at least 15 minutes and then cut into squares using a serrated (or even a steak knife, which is what I used) knife.
The size of the baking dish can vary - the smaller the dimensions, the thicker your squares will be. I find that a 9x11 inch pan worked well with this recipe, yielding about 16 1” think squares. It all really depends on how much of the mixture you eat before pressing it into the pan!
Note: Can’t stand measuring nut butters or sticky syrups?? Neither can I, so I grease my measuring cup with coconut oil first. This way the sticky ingredients just slip right now and don’t stick to the measuring cup.
