Cherry Nut Bars
A healthy power snack filled with dried cherries and cranberries, almonds, oats, sunflower and sesame seeds.
Servings: 12
Ingredients
- 3/4 c. Raw almonds, roughly chopped
- 1/4 c. Raw sunflower seeds (alt: roasted/salted seeds)
- 1/4 c. Raw pumpkin seeds (alt: roasted/salted seeds)
- 2/3 c. Whole oats
- 1/4 c. Sesame seeds
- 1/2 c. Dried cranberries
- 1/2 c. Dried cherries
- 1/2 tsp. Kosher salt
- 2 Tb. Honey (alt: maple syrup, agave, brown rice syrup)
- 2 Tb. Water
Instructions
- Heat oven to 350 degrees.
- In an 8X8 baking pan, coat bottom and sides with cooking spray. Line the pan with parchment, making sure to overlap the sides for easy removal of bars after baking.
- Place almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds and oats onto a rimmed baking sheet. Bake ~10 minutes, stirring every few minutes.
- While nuts/seeds roast, add cranberries, cherries, salt, honey and water to the bowl of a food processor and process until smooth and the water has been incorporated.
- Remove seeds/nuts from oven and cool a few minutes. Reduce temperature to 200 degrees.
- Transfer the cranberry/cherry mixture to a bowl, add seed/nut mixture along with sesame seeds and mix well.
- Transfer mixture to baking pan. Wet the tips of your fingers and firmly press the mixture and spread to edges. Bake ~15 minutes.
- Remove from oven and cool before removing, cutting and serving. Store unused bars in an airtight container in refrigerator.
Notes
Note: if you cannot find raw sunflower or pumpkin seeds, simply use roasted/salted seeds. Don't roast them in the oven; just add them to the final mixture (along with the sesame seeds) before baking. You may also want to adjust the amount of salt in the mixture, if using salted nuts or seeds :)