Photo: Dave77459 / Flickr

Sesame seed bars are packed with energy. Keep them as a handy snack in an airtight container or serve them with tea or coffee. This recipe is super-quick and should only take 20 minutes to prepare from beginning to end once you’ve measured your ingredients. Roasted and skinned peanuts are also used but feel free to add other ingredients to the seed bars: a third of a cup of seeds, nuts or dried fruits like seedless raisins will work well.

Ingredients

Measure out 50 grams of sesame seeds, 400 grams of caster sugar, 80 ml of white vinegar, 15 ml of water, 225 grams of roasted peanuts (preferably unsalted, skinned and halved) and have a little sunflower oil at hand to grease the baking tray.

Method

Spread the sesame seeds on a baking tray and allow them to dry roast for five minutes or so, until they are golden brown in colour.

Place the water, vinegar and sugar in a heavy based saucepan or frying pan and stir over a low heat until it dissolves. Bring the mixture to a boil and do not stir while you allow the mixture to boil for a further 10 minutes (until the sugar mixture turns into a caramel-toffee golden-brown colour).

While the sugar mixture is boiling, grease a baking tray (18 cm by 28 cm) with olive oil. Sprinkle the peanuts and half of the sesame seeds all over the base of the tray. Oil a spoon and pour the ready toffee over the nuts and sesame seeds – use the oiled spoon to even the mixture out.

Now, sprinkle the rest of the sesame seeds over the hot toffee. If you’re going to be adding other ingredients, mix them up and spread them onto the toffee before you add the sesame seeds.

Let the toffee cool down a little before you cut it into bars.

Tip: If you’re going to store the sesame seed bars, place them in an airtight container in a single layer as they may stick together if you add another layer. Should you use greaseproof paper, consider greasing it anyway before you start layering your seed bars – they are sticky!

Tags: eating healthily