Sailing around St. John, Virgin Islands.
Have you ever tasted something so amazing that you had to ask your host for the recipe but once home it never tastes the same again?
My great-grandmother’s fudge recipe is like that. No matter how hard we all try no one in the family can duplicate it quite right. My mama jokes that the secret ingredient was Grandma’s spit. I think it was patience as she hand mixed all the ingredients to the perfect consistency. Patience is usually something I seem to always be missing in my own kitchen.
So two years ago I was sailing in St. John and our captain’s wife made the most amazing Tropical Power Bars and generously shared the recipe. Except I couldn’t replicate it. Instead of power bars I got granola glop. It’s only saving grace was that it tasted good on yogurt and ice cream.
Frustrated, I altered the recipe trying to reduce the liquids and increase the solids. I reduced the oats and increased the harder, crunchy granola.
So here is my current version of the recipe, incarnation #5.
Homemade Power Bars
2 cups oats
2 cups hard, crunchy granola
3 cups brown sugar
1 cup whole wheat flour
5 eggs
4 oz apple sauce
4 oz honey
1 T vanilla
2 cups jumbo mixed raisins
Mix together and spread out on a 13 X 18 pan. Bake 25-30 minutes at 350.
