The first time I made these energy bars I had already shown you the photo, sure I would write the recipe a few days later. It had been, again, one of those impromptu recipes, tried without thinking too much, with the sole purpose of recycling leftovers and scraps. Fruit smoothie (the leftovers) and colomba Easter cake (the scraps).

I don’t know about you, but I always end up with a fair amount of crumbs and pieces stuck to the greaseproof paper when I have colombe, not to mention some big chunks of glaze that I regularly set aside (not because I don’t like them but because they bother my teeth 🤷‍♀️) and which always end up piling up with the crumbs, unless Flavia is around (nowadays rare, sob) to eat them for me.

Well, those very scraps came in handy the day I decided to recover the fruit smoothie left from the day before. I mixed everything together, added a bit of rolled oats and seeds, compacted it all with the back of a spoon, and obtained bars so good that the store-bought ones… well, they don’t compare. 😃💪

Only later, I don’t remember if it was because I forgot to write down the ingredient weights or because I (quite likely) lost the little note where I’d written them, but by then the colomba crumbs at home were used up, and so were the discounted colombe in stores, so I couldn’t try the recipe again with bargain crumbs. Right after Easter everyone rushes to grab them, and when I get to the discount area, the only empty pallet with a dangling price tag… guess what? It’s the colomba, of course!

When I promise a recipe and it doesn’t appear straight away, you might think I forgot, but no, it’s not forgetfulness. It’s simply a lack of opportunity. Luckily with recurring holidays the problem is solvable… just wait a year! 😄 And, magically, our lovely colombe are back, and so are the crumbs. 😃

And here is the post-Easter recycling recipe for the Light and Tasty column: recovered, weighed, eaten and written!

Enjoy! 😁😋

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Difficulty: Easy
Cost: Inexpensive
Preparation time: 15 Minutes
Cooking time: 30 Minutes
Portions: 10 bars
Cooking methods: Oven
Cuisine: Italian
Seasonality: All seasons

Ingredients

apple and kiwi smoothie (corresponds to about half an apple + 1 small kiwi (approx. 140 g))
rolled oats ((approx. 50 g))
colomba cake (crumbs and scraps (approx. 70 g))
sesame seeds ((approx. 20 g))
sunflower or pumpkin seeds ((approx. 20 g))
almonds ((approx. 20 g))
grated coconut (desiccated) ((approx. 15 g))

Tools

Food processor
Cookie cutter rectangular
Bowl

Steps

Recover the apple and kiwi smoothie from the previously prepared recipe. Or make it purposely, even with different fruit, and optionally without kefir (tried and still worked perfectly).
Put the smoothie in a bowl and add all the other ingredients one after the other, starting with the rolled oats.
Mix them with the smoothie and let them soften for a while. The time isn’t critical: 15 minutes, 30 minutes, an hour — it doesn’t make much difference.
In the meantime you can roughly chop the almonds and toast the seeds.
After toasting the seeds (sesame and sunflower; the last time I used pumpkin seeds), I recommend letting them cool.
Pour everything into the bowl, including the coconut.
Add the colomba crumbs.
If the pieces are large, or if you want to use a slice of colomba because there aren’t enough crumbs, you can crumble it intentionally. 😃
Mix everything well, then press the mixture into a cookie cutter or mold.
As usual I use a simple rectangular cutter.
But if you’re more imaginative than me you can use other shapes — just make sure they’re not too long or pointy, otherwise the bars might break because they don’t contain binders (like fats or honey). The only binder here is the smoothie, combined with crumbs and oats. (*)
Bake in the oven at 356°F for 30 minutes.
Check that they don’t brown too much; if necessary lower the temperature and extend the time. The bars should be well cooked, although they will rarely become crunchy. They will have the classic texture of many fruit energy bars.
I assure you they’re delicious — the husband, who is crazy about them, vouches for that. 😄
I tried adding a teaspoon of honey to half of the mixture, and I also tried adding candied orange peel (the ones I make at home and keep in stock).
We didn’t notice big differences in texture. Maybe I should have added more honey, but then they’d be too sweet for our tastes.
The presence of candied orange is purely a matter of personal taste. The husband approves, the son doesn’t — he likes less orange aroma. I like both versions. 😃