A delicious healthy snack bar that will add some sweetness to your day!

Having healthy snacks on hand is vital if you are going to avoid making poor food choices. Being on a restricted diet is hard enough without feeling hungry or as though you are missing out. These bars are healthy, sweet, Paleo, gluten, dairy and processed sugar-free. They are filled with natural goodness and are a favourite snack of mine. The recipe is flexible and you can change them to suit your own preferences such as leaving out the nuts, using different seeds or changing some of the quantities. All of the ingredients l use are organic and the nuts and larger seeds are activated which means l have soaked them in filtered water and sea salt for a day, rinsed them well and then dehydrated. This process helps to remove the anti-nutrients and support good digestion.

Ingredients:

1 cup activated organic sunflower seeds

1 cup activated organic pumpkin seeds

1 cup organic sesame seeds

1 cup black chia seeds

1 cup activated mixed nuts (e.g almond, walnut, and brazil)

A generous 1/2 cup organic shredded coconut

8 Medjool Dates seeded and chopped (roughly chop just to make it easier for the food processor)

A good 1/2 cup raw organic honey (use organic or regular honey if that is what you have)

A good 1/2 cup organic coconut oil

Place the nuts, seeds, shredded coconut and dates in the food processor and chop until roughly chopped. Gently warm the honey and coconut oil in a saucepan and pour into the food processor. Pulse until all there is a good consistency and all the nuts and seeds have been broken up.

Have a tray ready which is lined with baking paper. Run your finger around the edge of the tray so there is a crease in the paper. Pour the ingredients onto a tray lined with baking paper. Now is a good time to have a taste test. The mix should be sweet and delicious.

Use a spatula to flatten the mix and make sure it is quite even across the whole tray and give special attention to the corners. I have tried a few different oven temperatures and times but basically you don’t want the oven too hot as you will burn the seeds and lose lots of nutrients, and you want to just cook it until the edges are going golden. A temperature of 160 to 170 Degrees Celsius is recommended for 30 minutes but you can guage this better after your first batch.

Remove the tray from the oven and let cool until cold. Another option is when it is slightly cool to place it in the freezer for an hour whilst still on the tray. Use the edges of the baking paper to carefully remove the bars as a whole from the tray and lay it on a flat bench. Cut the bars while still on the baking paper into whatever size suits you using a very sharp knife and wiping clean after cutting a row.  Another option is to use a pizza cutter and it helps to give it or the knife a wipe after each row. I think it is better to have the bars quite small as then you have more of a choice over serving size.

Carefully lift each bar into the container for freezing unless you are going to eat them all fresh, but they are very nice eaten when they are just out of the freezer and such a handy snack to take to work or when you are out.

The best part of the whole cooking experience is eating the crumbs. Scrape them off the baking paper and into a bowl. Enjoy! You could dip something into these crumbs such as a banana or use them as a topping.

Something to be aware of when eating these bars is that the chia seeds can get stuck in your teeth. This is really a cosmetic issue, so it is best to do a quick tooth check after you have eaten them and you may need a tooth pick to remove them as they can be a bit stubborn.

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