A lot of people are familiar with Hudson’s Bay Bread, an energy bar that became a standard among outfitting groups in places like the Boundary Waters. There are plenty of origin stories, and several “official” recipes. Neither really matters. What matters is having nutrition to share with the members of your group when they need it most. Hudson’s Bay Bread delivers.
Our version of the recipe comes from the old Boy Scout Region 7 Canoe Base in Boulder Junction, Wisconsin. We’ve used this recipe with success on several trips, and we highly recommend it.
Just don’t eat it during a time when you lead a sedentary lifestyle. This packs quite the caloric punch.
The standard Hudson’s Bay Bread recipe consists of the following ingredients and roughly these ratios:
- 8 oz. margarine or butter
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 3 cups rolled oats
- 3 oz. honey
- 1/4 cup peanuts
- 1/4 cup raisins
For our version, we make the following adjustments:
- Use brown sugar instead of white sugar
- Use 1/2 cup peanuts
- Use 1/2 cup chocolate chips
Mix and bake like this:
- Melt margarine or butter, add to sugar.
- Add half the oats and mix.
- Heat the honey so it is soft and liquid.
- Then add the honey, raisins, peanuts, and the rest of the oats. Mix by hand.
- Spread evenly in a baking pan, about 1/2 inch thick. Place in a 350 degree oven until golden brown, about 25-30 minutes. Allow to cool about 10 minutes before cutting.
- After cutting allow another 10 minutes to cool and then flip the pan out.
- Let the bread stand until completely cool before wrapping.
Depending on the size of the group we’re traveling with, we make one or two batches the week we put in. We cut ours into rectangles of about 2” x 3”, and store two in a sandwich sized ziplock bag with the bars separated by a little parchment paper so they don’t stick together.
When the people you’re in the backcountry with need an energy boost, there’s nothing like Hudson’s Bay Bread. We highly recommend keeping some in your thwartbag on the trail.
