Just finished up version 3.0 of my Muur Bar.  Christened in honor of the famous cobbled, steep climbs of Belgian cycling lore like the Muur van Geraardsbergen and the Mur de Huy.

A quick on the fly snack to get us over the hill and on towards the finale.  In typical chefy fashion I succumbed to the urge to work up my own version of an “energy bar” snack.  A few things drove the process on this.

• Control the amount of sweetener.  A lot of bars are wasyyy too sweet.  Much of their boost is in cane sugar they pour in there.
• Make it without gluten.
• Pack it with natural, organic ingredients that will offer nourishment and some level of sustained energy.
• Is it possible to make it like “real food”?

And so it goes from there.  Still dealing with how some of the ingredients work together.  How to alter texture?  What happens after its done?  Shelf-life?  What do the numbers look like?

Basically I was looking to approximate the nutrient numbers of some of the other bar options out here but still stay within my chosen  criteria.  Wheat free, nut driven, no egg product, dairy ok, no cane or sugar beet sugar, no gluten.  Keep the protein up, fat in control (but good fat which is not that hard actually), sweet but not too so.

A number of samples have been handed out.  Hard core dancers, cyclists, runners.  Some feedback has filtered in, more to come.  Stay tuned for version 3.1, 3.6, 4.0 with improved mouth feel and flavorings.