Almond Coconut Kind Bar Copycat (Clone Recipe)

Diet Tip of the Day:  Time your exercise sessions to target your desired results.  Exercise in the morning to burn fat.  Exercise in the afternoon to build endurance.

A few days ago, one of the food producers I follow on Facebook posted a link to Camilla V. Saulsbury's Homemade Kind Bars with a notation that they were going to try them with molasses. I had no idea what a Kind bar was but the recipe looked like a good one for our grandkids.  I bookmarked the recipe to try then forgot about them.  As luck would have it, just before the snow storm hit, I was picking up a few things at Walmart.  I had a couple of dietary supplements on my list and in the same aisle, there are the energy bars.  Normally, I don't even give these a second glance but for some reason I tossed one into the cart likely thinking it may come in handy after one of my exercise sessions.  When I got home, I realized that I had bought an actual Kind bar so pulled up the recipe and was off experimenting.

I thought what I had bought was and energy bar, which is basically what a Kind bar is.  It is made with natural ingredients, high in fiber and gluten, wheat and dairy free.  The only thing I found on the list of ingredients that some may choose to avoid is soy lethcithin, only because it is soy aka GMO.  Other than that, the ingredients and nutritional values were good.  At 210 calories, it would be the same as some candy bars but healthier and lower carb.  The $1.79 price tag may deter some.

The recipe on Leite's Culinaria is really just a ratio the ingredients.  The creator of the recipe insists that other sweeteners like agave, honey or maple syrup will not work.  However, I am going to try with molasses and pure sugar cane syrup.  Worse case scenerio, I will end up with delicious chunks to snack on.  I also thought that the nuts and fruits could be substituted with an equal amount of trail mix.  There's really just endless possibilities using the basic ingredient ratio!

I used whole almonds, Rice Krispies and shredded coconut so the result was very close to the Kind bar.  I neglected to line the baking dish with parchment paper and although I managed to save the bars, I will be sure to use parchment paper with the next batch.  My bars were shorter than the Kind bar.  Next time I will cut them into 15 bars instead of 10 though as even the smaller size was a bit too much.  Other than that, I am quite please with the results!  I did calculate the nutritional value for the size bars I made (see below).  The numbers are good but be warned will change depending on the nuts and fruit used.  The cost came in at about 80¢ per bar.