Melissa Hemsley offers recipes for matcha Bounty bars, savoury granola and flapjacks

Chef and writer Melissa Hemsley shares recipes for homemade sweet treats and snacks including Bounty-style coconut bars flavoured with matcha, a munchable savoury granola, and five-ingredient flapjacks. Hemsley says she calls Bounty bars "paradise bars" and that mixing matcha into the coconut filling wins over even her partner, who doesn’t enjoy drinking matcha tea.

The Bounty bars recipe (prep 5 min, cook 30 min, chill 30 min+, makes 24) uses creamed coconut, coconut oil, maple syrup or honey, vanilla, matcha, desiccated coconut and dark chocolate. She suggests either dipping individual bars in melted chocolate or setting the filling in a wide tin and drizzling chocolate on top; once made, the bars keep in an airtight container in the fridge for up to two weeks or can be frozen.

The savoury granola (prep 5 min, cook 25 min, makes about 450g) can be used in sandwiches, on avocado toast or sprinkled over salads and soups. Ingredients include smoked paprika or harissa, olive oil, rolled oats, rosemary, mixed nuts and seeds, soy sauce or tamari, and maple syrup.

Hemsley gives an oven method (190C/170C fan, 15–20 minutes) and an alternative frying-pan method; after cooling, transfer to a lidded jar and it will keep for two weeks. Her five-ingredient flapjacks (cook 25 min plus cooling, makes eight) combine almond butter, maple syrup, porridge oats, cinnamon and raisins, baked at 180C (160C fan) for about 15 minutes and stored for up to a week.

Key Topics

Culture, Melissa Hemsley, Bounty Bars, Matcha, Savoury Granola, Flapjacks