breakfast bars

DH always has a store of Uncle Toby's breakfast bars at the office for his breakfast. but one day, on our monthly pilgrimage to tesco, none were to be seen. of any flavour. being... loyal (ha ha, for those who know the joke) he didn't buy anything, lah.

hence, i decided to try making some since i just bought cheerios at tesco tu. they are amazingly simple to do. and apparently they taste great, since i am now feeding the whole office with them!!

what you need

• 55g butter


• 3 tbsp golden syrup or honey


• 100 instant quaker oats


• 80g brown sugar


• 30g cheerios


• 40g raisins


• 40g pumpkin seeds


• 55g chocolate chips


• 35g sunflower seeds


• 0.25 tsp salt

what you do

• line an 8x8 pan with baking paper. you can use any other size but then the thickness will vary


• melt the butter and golden syrup in a pan. put it aside. i tried with honey and it gives the whole thing a not-so-sweet taste but i find it doesn't make all the ingredients stick sangat. if you want to use honey, maybe can put a little bit more.


• put all the other stuff in a bowl and mix it up.


• pour the slightly cooled butter mixture into the dry stuff and mix it all up properly.


• put the mix in the pan and (the best part) flatten it up with a potato masher. or a fork. or back of a spoon. or all of the above!


• put it in the oven heated to 170C and bake for about 30mins or until the centre is not so soft when you touch it. i like to leave it a little brown but beware! the raisins might burn. my raisins burn ALL THE TIME!!


• leave it in the pan for about 15 mins to settle down. then cut it into bars or squares, still leaving it in the pan.


• lift it out of the pan only when it's completely cool. store in an airtight container

feel free to omit or replace any of the ingredients with what you like. like, salted peanuts, walnuts, dried cranberries, dessicated coconuts, dried apricot. sedap tau.