Okay, I have to admit that this is pretty much my favourite treat! Easy to make, no baking required. The hard part is waiting for the mixture to chill before cutting or removing from the mold. Originally, I used 1 cup for the first 3 ingredients, but I found that my food processor struggled with the intense texture, so I reduced to 2/3 cup.
I later experimented with silicone molds.
These work great. 2 molds works perfectly for this recipe.
Prepare ingredients, equipment and molds in advance. Once the nuts and fruits are ground, it goes quickly.
⅔ cup mixed nuts & seeds (I like a mix of walnuts, almonds, cashews, brazil nuts, pumpkin seeds and sunflower seeds, or whatever I have available)
⅔ cup quick oats
⅔ cup peanut butter
1 cup mixed dried fruit (dates, raisins)
1 teaspoon vanilla
Pinch of sea salt
1 cup dark chocolate chips
Ground nuts or sparkles for decoration (optional)
- If using, line 5 x 6 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Grind nuts and oats in food processor. Process until very finely ground.
- Meanwhile, melt chocolate chips in microwave, in 15 second intervals, stirring between each session. Alternatively, melt in top of double boiler.
- Add dried fruit, vanilla and salt to ground nuts and oats. Process until ground.
- Add peanut butter. Process until well mixed.
- Once chocolate chips are melted, add to nuts and fruit mixture. Process until well blended.
- Pack into bottom of baking pan. Alternatively, fill molds.
- Optional: Decorate with ground nuts and seeds, or sprinkles.
- Refrigerate to firm up.
- Remove from pan; slice into rectangular or square portions. Or, simply pop them out of mold.
- Enjoy! Oh, in case you need a reason to stop eating them, they freeze really well! Just take a few out at a time. 🙂
