Packed with nutty oaty chocolatey coconutty goodness, these bites are the perfect lunchbox treat or afternoon pick-me-up. 

This recipe was a happy accident. Feeling inspired to mix up my weekend baking sessions for my children’s lunchboxes, I found a new recipe for muesli bars, but in typical fashion I substituted this for that to suit the contents of my pantry and then reduced the quantity of honey which binds all the good stuff together. Of course it emerged from the oven one great crumbly mess. Thankfully I am never without several bars of good quality dark chocolate, which, melted and velvety smooth, served to bind the oaty mess together and make the most delicious muesli bites. Make them – you won’t regret it!  

CHOCOLATE-COATED MUESLI BITES

Makes about 40 bites

• ½ cup honey
• ¼ cup olive oil
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
• pinch of sea salt
• 2 cups oats
• 1 cup coconut (shredded or chips)
• ¼ cup pumpkin seeds
• ½ cup almonds, roughly chopped
• ½ cup raisins
• ½ cup apricots, roughly chopped
• 300g dark chocolate

Preheat the oven to 160°C and line three baking trays with baking paper.

Put the honey and olive oil into a saucepan and stir over a medium heat until combined. Remove from the heat, then stir in the vanilla bean paste and a good pinch of sea salt. 

Put the oats, coconut, pumpkin seeds, almonds, raisins and apricots into a large roasting pan, pour over the honey and olive oil mixture and stir. Put the pan in the oven and toast until golden brown – this will take 20 minutes or so. You must keep an eye on the mixture as it cooks, giving it a stir at the five and 10-minute marks and then every couple of minutes until it’s golden brown. The mixture will burn quickly if not watched. Once the mixture is golden brown, remove the pan from the oven and set aside. 

Put some water in a small saucepan, set over medium heat, and put a metal bowl over the top of it. Break the chocolate up into the bowl and melt the chocolate. 

Once the chocolate is melted, put the oat mixture into a bowl (break it up with a wooden spoon where it might have stuck together) and pour over the melted chocolate. Mix well until all the oaty bits are well coated in chocolate. At this point I set the bowl of mixture back over the hot water just so that the mixture didn’t set as I worked. 

Spoon tablespoons of the mixture onto the baking paper-lined trays and set aside. Once cooled and set, put the bites into a container and store in the fridge or freezer.