Walnut and Fruit Bars
After bars are cut, I wrap them individually and store them in a ziploc in the freezer.
After bars are cut, I wrap them individually and store them in a ziploc in the freezer.
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 cup sesame seeds
- 1/3 cup brown sugar packed
- 1/2 cup dark chocolate chips
- 1/2 cup liquid honey
- 3 cups large flake oats
- 1/4 cup almond flour
- 3/4 cup walnuts coarsely chopped
- 3/4 cup almonds coarsely chopped
- 1/2 `cup dried cranberries
- 1/2 cup pumpkin seeds
- 1/2 cup unsweetened coconut
- 2/3 cup dried apricots
- 1/2 cup soft butter
- Carbohydrate 11.8823023850318 g
- Cholesterol 6.9862962962963 mg
- Fat 8.57695067130668 g
- Fiber 1.39780254847892 g
- Protein 2.30768328435507 g
- Saturated Fat 3.01979607986146 g
- Serving Size 1 1 Serving (26g)
- Sodium 56.1906069913019 mg
- Sugar 10.4844998365529 g
- Trans Fat 0.559791317136652 g
- Calories 127 calories
Step-by-step
- Line a 9 X 13 pan with parchment paper, set aside.
- In a large bowl, toss together first 5 ingredients. Add walnuts, dried fruit, chocolate chips, pumpkin seeds, coconut and sesame seeds. Toss to distribute ingredients.
- In a food processor, chop apricots very finely - add butter and puree to a paste. Add honey, blend throughly - whize mixture to a smooth paste.
- Scrape apricot mixture over rolled oats. With a wooden spoon, mix sticky and dry ingredients together thoroughly to form a dense mixture that holds together. You may need to use your hands, in which case, buter or oil them to keep oats from sticking to your fingers.
- Scape into prepared pan and press evenly,
- Bake in centre of oven at 325 degrees for 25 minutes, until slightly darker around edges.
- Let cool.
- Cut and wrap.
- Enjoy.
Removing grain and seed bars from the oven too early leads to a crumbly, unstable mass that disintegrates upon slicing. Home bakers frequently mistake residual heat for structural set, failing to recognize that sugar networks require absolute cooling to harden fully. Recognizing the correct baking threshold avoids this structural failure entirely.
Baking at 325 degrees Fahrenheit for 25 minutes initiates the necessary Maillard reactions in the coconut, seeds, and nuts while preventing the honey and brown sugar from burning. Visual assessment remains the only reliable metric for doneness in dense baked goods lacking a traditional crumb structure. Look specifically for edges that turn a shade darker than the center, indicating that the butter and sugars have caramelized along the pan perimeter.
Coarsely chopping the nuts ensures they anchor the mixture without creating large voids that weaken the cut edges. Pureeing the dried apricots with soft butter and liquid honey creates a binding paste; this fruit puree coats the large flake oats and almond flour evenly, replacing the need for excess eggs or chemical binders. Thoroughly mixing this dense mass directly impacts the final integrity of each piece.
Allowing the entire pan to cool completely on a wire rack permits the molten sugars to recrystallize and lock the ingredients together. Freezing individual portions wrapped tightly in plastic prevents moisture absorption during long-term storage.
