Chickpea
1-21-13, 4:06pm
Hello there,
I thought i would share some of my Nakd style healthier option bars. I encourage you to experiment with different dried fruits, nuts and spices to find the best combo's for you. I have 2 main ones that i make, and also experiment now and again with other fruits.
I use a cup of chopped dates and slightly less than a cup of ground nuts for one batch which makes 8 good sized bars. You want to aim for the end result to be moist enough to be shaped and not fall apart, but not too sticky. (add more nuts or ground oats to dry up the mixture and blended raisens or semi-dried apricots or a little fresh juice to moisten it).
Blend your chosen nuts into a meal (note that pecans are very oily, so use sparingly else the bars will turn out very greasy) and put in mixing bowl. Gently heat your chosen spices and powder them (or use pre-powdered) and add to bowl. Blend dates in food processor intil almost turning to paste and add to bowl. Now you can add any dried fruit you like. I dont have dehydrator, but my oven goes lower than 100...i think the lowest temp for drying is 115...but should check that. If you dont have food processor you can buy pre-ground nuts and just chop and bash the fruit with a rolling pin or something till its mushy.
Choc Bar - I add coco powder, about 1 tsp, but you can add more or less depending how chocolately you want them. I also add blended dried apricots as i think it goes well with the cocoa and a little grated orange peel for cho-orange version (or you could add some orange essence). If i make them very chocolaty it tends to dry the mixture quite a bit so i add a little fresh orange juice. I make a firm ball of the mixture and then shaped into a sausage shape and lay it on some greaseproof paper. I then rolled it a bit to flatten it and shaped it a little more untill i had what looked like a very long bar. I then chilled it for at least 30 mins and then cut it into into 8 bars and pop into fridge. If i add spice it is usually cinnamon and a little clove, just because i love clove. Ive also used fennel seeds and caraway seeds in it, which went nicely.
Spiced Ginger and Apple bar - For this bar i dry slices of apple (aprox 2mm thick) and break into little peices. I love ginger, so use about 1 1/2-2 tsp of fresh grated ginger, but you might want more of a subtle ginger taste. I use 3 cloves (again, i like clove but you might want a more subtle hint of clove), a few powdered fennel seeds, and 1 powdered cardemon and some cinnamon. You might like to add walnuts to your nut combo for this bar.
Blueberry and pecan - for this bar i add a little turmeric (i got the blueberry and turmeric combo from a pancake recipe) and a few pecans (not many as theyre a strong taste and oily).
Apricot - I usually add some oats to this bar and keep some of the nuts chunky. I tend to keep it simple, but sometimes add a raisen paste also.
If anyone tries making other kinds please let me know what combinations you found to be good!
I thought i would share some of my Nakd style healthier option bars. I encourage you to experiment with different dried fruits, nuts and spices to find the best combo's for you. I have 2 main ones that i make, and also experiment now and again with other fruits.
I use a cup of chopped dates and slightly less than a cup of ground nuts for one batch which makes 8 good sized bars. You want to aim for the end result to be moist enough to be shaped and not fall apart, but not too sticky. (add more nuts or ground oats to dry up the mixture and blended raisens or semi-dried apricots or a little fresh juice to moisten it).
Blend your chosen nuts into a meal (note that pecans are very oily, so use sparingly else the bars will turn out very greasy) and put in mixing bowl. Gently heat your chosen spices and powder them (or use pre-powdered) and add to bowl. Blend dates in food processor intil almost turning to paste and add to bowl. Now you can add any dried fruit you like. I dont have dehydrator, but my oven goes lower than 100...i think the lowest temp for drying is 115...but should check that. If you dont have food processor you can buy pre-ground nuts and just chop and bash the fruit with a rolling pin or something till its mushy.
Choc Bar - I add coco powder, about 1 tsp, but you can add more or less depending how chocolately you want them. I also add blended dried apricots as i think it goes well with the cocoa and a little grated orange peel for cho-orange version (or you could add some orange essence). If i make them very chocolaty it tends to dry the mixture quite a bit so i add a little fresh orange juice. I make a firm ball of the mixture and then shaped into a sausage shape and lay it on some greaseproof paper. I then rolled it a bit to flatten it and shaped it a little more untill i had what looked like a very long bar. I then chilled it for at least 30 mins and then cut it into into 8 bars and pop into fridge. If i add spice it is usually cinnamon and a little clove, just because i love clove. Ive also used fennel seeds and caraway seeds in it, which went nicely.
Spiced Ginger and Apple bar - For this bar i dry slices of apple (aprox 2mm thick) and break into little peices. I love ginger, so use about 1 1/2-2 tsp of fresh grated ginger, but you might want more of a subtle ginger taste. I use 3 cloves (again, i like clove but you might want a more subtle hint of clove), a few powdered fennel seeds, and 1 powdered cardemon and some cinnamon. You might like to add walnuts to your nut combo for this bar.
Blueberry and pecan - for this bar i add a little turmeric (i got the blueberry and turmeric combo from a pancake recipe) and a few pecans (not many as theyre a strong taste and oily).
Apricot - I usually add some oats to this bar and keep some of the nuts chunky. I tend to keep it simple, but sometimes add a raisen paste also.
If anyone tries making other kinds please let me know what combinations you found to be good!