Healthy, easy to make seed and nuts bars, or just seed bars if you leave the nuts out as the ones above. This recipe is very flexible and l know there are heaps of other bar recipes on the web but this one suits me, my lifestyle, tastes and food choices. The ingredients are all wonderful and you can add more or less of each seed and it wont matter. To be adventurous you could add herbs, raw cacao, cinnamon or garlic and l may start experimenting a bit now l have this basic recipe worked out. The ones in the picture above do not have nuts or coconut, but l prefer the batch l made today which included them. I use organic and activated ingredients but it is up to you and your preferences. Regular nuts and seeds will work well, but l need to support my digestion and overall health as much as possible so use the best ingredients l can.
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 (I used walnut, almond 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 or even rice malt syrup)
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. Tip this into a good sized glass bowl. I used the same measuring cup for the organic coconut oil and raw organic honey and with both in there it should look really full. Put the coconut oil in the cup first so it is easier to remove.
Melt the coconut oil and honey in a saucepan on very low heat. You don’t want it too hot so remove from the heat just before it is all melted. Give it a stir and then pour it into the seed, nut, date and shredded coconut mix. Stir well and taste test. It should be delicious and sweet.
Place a sheet of grease proof paper over a baking tray and run your finger around the edge to make a crease. Pour the mix onto the tray and flatten with a soft spatula or the back of a spoon. 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. I cooked mine today in a Fan Forced Convection Oven at 170 Degrees Celsius for 30 minutes. You will be able to check this after your first batch.
Remove the tray from the oven and let cool until cold. I left mine for about 1.5 hours.
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. 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. If they are a bit crumbly you can place the whole lot into the freezer with a cutting board underneath so they harden a bit before placing in the tub.
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.
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