My micronutrient muesli bars

This recipe is absolute gold. If you feel like you’re struggling to get enough fibre, zinc, chromium, manganese, selenium, polyphenols and about 10 other micronutrients in daily, OR you need a snack idea that keeps you fuller for longer and isn’t boiled eggs or rice crackers with hummus (yawn‑am I right people?) then make these your weekly staple.

Georgina Waugh, Clinical Nutritionist

Recipe by Georgina Waugh, Clinical Nutritionist (BHSc)

Muesli bars on a speckled plate, each topped with a dried apricot and half-dipped in dark chocolate, with oats, pumpkin seeds, almonds and cranberries through them

Ingredients

  • 200 g dried Turkish apricots, plus extra for decoration
  • 100 g dried cranberries
  • 5 tbsp honey
  • 1/2 tsp cinnamon
  • 1 tsp vanilla extract
  • 100 g coconut oil
  • 1 cup rolled oats
  • 30 g Brazil nuts
  • 60 g hazelnuts
  • 60 g almonds
  • 60 g pumpkin seeds
  • 1 block Lindt 85% dark chocolate

Method

  1. Add apricots, honey, cinnamon, vanilla & coconut oil to a food processor and blend until combined. Then add the oats and pulse until a ball forms.
  2. Transfer the contents to a big bowl.
  3. Roughly chop the hazelnuts, Brazil and almonds (or sub for any nuts) and add them to the bowl with the pumpkin seeds. Stir everything until fully incorporated.
  4. Line a baking sheet with baking paper and pour the mixture into the tin. Create an even flat layer by pushing down using a small piece of baking paper, cardboard, or dough scraper. Then decorate with a few apricots and cranberries on top and even out the top again, pushing the apricots firmly into the mixture.
  5. Pop the tin in the fridge for 2 hours. Then add to the freezer for 15 minutes just before cutting to help with even lines. Then take the bars out of the tin, slice into even pieces, and dip each one in melted dark choc & set in the fridge. YUM!

What’s in a batch

Here’s what the whole tray adds up to before you cut it, so divide by however many bars you get.

  • 60 gFibre
  • 1,000 mgMagnesium
  • 15 mgZinc
  • 24 mgIron
  • 600 µgSeleniumalmost all from the Brazil nuts
  • 37 mgVitamin E

Rounded figures, worked out from Food Standards Australia New Zealand’s AUSNUT 2023 values for each ingredient, using everything in the list above. We counted 1 cup of rolled oats as 90 g, 5 tbsp of honey as 105 g and the chocolate as a 100 g block of dark chocolate over 60% cocoa. Chromium, manganese and polyphenols aren’t in AUSNUT, so they’re not in this count.

Eating well and still running on empty?

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Allergens: this recipe contains tree nuts. Check your chocolate’s label if you avoid milk or soy.

Important: This page is general information for adults. It isn’t medical advice and doesn’t replace care from your GP or another qualified health professional. Nutrient figures: Food Standards Australia New Zealand, AUSNUT 2023, used under a Creative Commons Attribution licence. FSANZ doesn’t endorse this page. Read our full disclaimer.