Por-Puffed Wheat Squares

So I'm sure you're already wondering... what on earth is a PorPuffed Wheat Square?

A couple of weeks ago, I wandered into a local cafe in Calgary, and found these enormous puffed wheat squares staring me in the face:

I bought one of these mammoth creations.... and before digging into it, I decided to cut it up just to see how many appropriately (in my opinion) portion-sized squares it would make.  I thought maybe 4, 5, 6.....

Sixteen.

SIXTEEN!!

I cut it up into 16 pieces and brought them to work to share with my work family.

(And yes ok maybe I caved and bought a Rice Krispie square too.)

ONE Rice Krispie square is cut up in the bag on the left.
ONE Puffed Wheat square is in the bag cut up on the right.

So the teaching today is about portions: sadly, portion sizes have grown by 3-4x (and in this case, 16x!) compared to what portion sizes were in the marketplace 30-40 years ago.  This is a problem especially out of control in North America (travellers may notice that portions are usually smaller on other continents).

So here's my recipe for PorPuffed Wheat Squares (short for Portioned-Puffed).  There are many permutations on this out there - this one is chocolaty, delightful, and will make a square that stays fairly soft for several days, if you follow my guidance below.

Disclaimer: the ingredients are high glycemic index and not healthy (though puffed wheat squares will have a lower calorie bill than something more dense like a brownie or granola-based bar), but portioned appropriately, they are a delectable and very reasonable little treat once in a while.

INGREDIENTS:

• 1/2 cup corn syrup
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup margarine
• 5 tbsp cocoa powder
• 8 cups puffed wheat

DIRECTIONS: 

1.  Melt the first 4 ingredients under low-medium heat until the mixture just starts to boil.  (don't wait any longer or the squares will be too hard)

2.  Remove from heat and fold in the puffed wheat.

3.  Press into a 9x13" pan, lightly greased with margarine. 

That's it!  Super easy. 

Makes 20 squares. Per square: 

• Calories: 135
• Carbs: 21g
• Fat: 4.8g
• Protein: 1g

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