First, I grind nuts and seeds together to form a hearty, coarse nut “flour”. To this I stir in some whole seeds, raisins, salt and a touch of cinnamon. Honey and melted coconut oil are poured over it, and the mixture is then baked in the oven. Once cooled and cut, these delicious nut bars are devoured quickly if you aren’t careful! They are in that “almost too good” category, where it’s hard to eat just one.
My husband has been traveling this summer just a bit, so I have been trying to come up with some new portable recipes. I think this one fits the bill nicely! I think it will also work great for the school year. It’s the perfect bar to replace those mostly nasty granola bars (full of bad ingredients) or those super expensive health food bars.
And thanks everyone, for participating in another week of Pennywise Platter Thursday! I’ve just been loving the great ideas and tips!
Delicious Honey Nut Bars
You will need a food processor for this recipe (or a powerful blender). I am sure that you can play around with what nuts you use, though the following combination is delicious! I started with raw nuts, as toasting nuts is supposed to remove enzyme inhibitors in nuts and I hoped that they would be toasted enough to accomplish the job. Though you are welcome to start with soaked and dehydrated nuts!Preheat oven to 350 degrees and grease (with coconut oil) a 9 x 13 casserole dish. Grind the following nuts into a coarse nut flour. Don’t let it turn into nut butter!
1/2 cup cashews
1 cup of pumpkin seeds
1 cup of almondsPut into a medium size bowl and stir in the following.
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1/2 cup pf pumpkin seeds
1 cup of raisins
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamonMelt in a small saucepan:
1/2 cup of honey
1/4 cup high quality coconut oilPour honey/oil over the nut mixture and stir until everything is evenly coated with it. Press evenly into the prepared casserole dish and bake for 18-20 minutes, or until it is lightly browned on top.
Allow to cool for 20 minutes, then very gently cut and remove bars and allow to cool on a plate. They will be crumbly at this stage, but I found that if they started to fall apart, I could gently mold them back together (the honey acts like a glue). As they cool they will harden. Once cool, place in an airtight container and enjoy!
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Kellie
SO FREAKING GOOD! I didn’t use any pumpkin seeds and used a cup of flaxseeds instead and put it in a 8X8 dish. Delish
veggiecook
Hi,
This looks great! Just wondering, would the recipe work ok if I do not use any oil?
Rickrad
I used veggie oil and added a banana.. Delicious !!!
Sarah
These are ABSOLUTELY incredible!!!! I work from 4 a.m. to 10 a.m., and my non-cooking husband always needs stuff prepped in advance for my 5 kids. I baked these ahead of time for tomorrow– and the kids half devoured them. THANK YOU!!
Dee
Wow that looks incredibly easy to make and nutritious. Excellent for school and work lunchboxes. Thanks for sharing.
Jessi
I made these tonight. Well, I had to modify the recipe to what I had on hand, but now I have delicious granola goodness.
I think “crumbly” is generous for describing the bars when we cut them. I think I might have been better off scooping out chunks to shape into bars than cutting. BUT that could be do to my modifications.
Thanks for the recipe…I’m so glad to be making bars again!
maryanne
what were your modifications?
andrea
agreed! i started cutting and each bar lost shape with every cut. I decided to just stir up the pan and throw it back into the oven to make granola clusters that will be more like nutty cereal. Very tasty, regardless of form.
philippa
I used goji berries instead of raisins. Also added extra coconut oil, sesame seeds, protein powder and tahini… yum !!!
sarah
I think the term ‘sugar free’ is misleading, these have a lot of sugar, fruit sugar and Honey , just no cane sugar , perhaps change the title?
Aaron
There is no added sugar. I think that’s what they were trying to say
kowgrl
I think the title “sugar free”, is nesesary for all who have an allergy.
How else can you search for recipes that are without cane sugar?
With the title of, ‘Honey Nut Bars’ you know right away that there is a sweatnener used!!
vedjen
FANTASTIC! We used only almonds and hemp seeds, as it was all we had on hand, and added raisins and chocolate chips (Enjoy Life). The chocolate chips melted once I added the hot oil/honey and made everything brown but my kids ate the entire thing including the raisins without any complaints. Score! Thanks a bunch for the great recipe.
New guy
I am on a super low starch diet in response to an auto-immune disease that I’ve been recently diagnosed with. I want to say thanks for providing this recipe that helps to keep food tasty and convenient.
Done as described in the above recipe, the bars are delicous. I really like how the recipe is very flexible to add/subtract whatever ingredients you like.
Julie
I have been looking for an easy nut bar recipe. Can’t wait to try this. Thank you!
Brian
I’ve been making a similar bar for the past few years and have experimented with several things. Here are some tips that I learnded with my bars and I’m guessing should also apply to these bars too.
1. Use parchment paper in the pan. Makes it much easier to take out of the pan.
2. Leave the bars in the pan until almost cool so they set up. You may want to cut them while they’re still warm in the pan.
3. Once cool put them in an airtight container, otherwise they get absorb moisture from the air and get soggy.
4. Chocolate covered sunflower seeds or mini m&m’s are great if you want chocolate. The candy coating will keep them contained. Freeze them before adding them to the mixture so they don’t break up while mixing them in.
5. It’s a great way to use your own dried fruit. My favorite is dried pluots.
Kathleen Corkett
I’ve been processing:
-nuts (any combination I have on hand that’s been soaked in sea salt water, then dehydrated)
-dried fruit (whatever is on hand, dates, raisins, apples, cherries, cranberries, etc.)
-seeds (whatever is on hand, pumpkin, sesame, sunflower, chia)
-bee pollen
-coconut (any type)
-Nova Scotia, Canada dulse (a type of dried seaweed)
-a grind or two of pepper and mustard seeds
-melted oil (coconut oil or butter or a combo) & raw local honey (low temp melted and mixed with the oil) stirred together with all the ingredients
The trick is to process it in the food processor until it is sticky, then press it in a coconut or butter greased pan (I prefer glass) and chill, cut into squares, then freeze.
Great grab-n-go food. (Will melt if warm though…so I put a freezer pack in with it)
Alexis
These look like such a scrumptious idea. However, I was wondering if it is really necessary to bake them. Honey that has not been heated over 117 degrees is loaded with enzymes that digest carbohydrates, as well as nutrients found in plant pollens. I suppose that you could also swap out honey for maple syrup. Anyway, I’d like to work around a way to try these babies.
Amber
You could probably make them without baking if you refrigerate them, that way the honey and coconut oil will set firm.
Tour de Lens
Thank you so much, this is exactly what I was looking for. For those who do not know, the coconut oil blends with the honey to help bind the mixture together. We did not bake at all. We used lightly salted cashews, unsalted peanuts, dried cranberry, fresh dried coconut flakes, unsalted sunflower seeds, un-hulled sesame seeds, sprinkling of ground whole flax seeds, and 6 squares of Cadbury’s dark chocolate bar cut up into bits and flakes. I did not measure much, just eyeballed as we went along, though mostly followed the 1/2 oil to honey ratio. We spread it into a 2 qt glass container and put in the freezer. After 20 minutes they were set up well enough to cut nice bites out with a spoon. We are continuing to freeze to see how they set after an hour. We will likely keep frozen, though might cut into bars and see if they hold up to being vacuum sealed into bars. These are going to be GONE by tomorrow, no question. Delicious, homemade and good for you. THANK YOU for saving me $1.79 each for the Kind bars I love but can now make at home!!
Misty
Do I have to remove the skin from the almonds first? Want to make these ASAP for my hubby.
amy
Am I the only one that had a disaster by following the recipe as written?? They do not make bars…just a crumbly mess that cannot be molded into anything. We ended up turning it into an oat free granola. Should have read all of the comments before trying it.
julie
I followed the recipe as written and it didn’t fall apart. Maybe you need to grind up the seeds in the first section more .
Becca
Because of allergies I am dairy and corn free. I was always buying KIND bars, which are great, but wanted to try making something similar on my own to save some money. These are absolutely amazing!!! Just made a pan, and there is already a big dent in them. Cant wait to eat these for breakfast this week! They are fabulous! Thanks for posting!
Emily
I made these bars a few days ago and decided not to bake them, but to keep them raw, since the health benefits are so much greater. They were DELICIOUS! My husband loved them. =) The only stipulation is that they are slightly sticky and must be kept in the fridge. But I thought I would let anyone reading this know that was an option! =)
Emily
I made these bars a few days ago and decided not to bake them, but to keep them raw, since the health benefits are so much greater. They were DELICIOUS! My husband loved them. =) The only stipulation is that they are slightly sticky and must be kept in the fridge. But I thought I would let anyone reading this know that was an option! =)
Emily
Made these a few days ago but didn’t bake them – i left them raw for the nutritional benefits and they were DELICIOUS! My husband loved them. =) Just make sure you keep them in the fridge or they will fall apart.
Rachel
Thoughts on dehydrating them?
julie
I just had to make a comment. These bars are amazing just as they are…no changes. I kept half raw and put in fridge…ssoooo moreish. The other half I baked…totally different from the raw version but just as yummy. What a find. thankyou.
Donna in NYC
So I’d like to add tahini, and I’m wondering about the best way to do that. Maybe add 1/4 c tahini to the honey/oil mix?
Thanks for any suggestions on this.
Janet
These bars are absolutely FABULOUS!!! Made exactly as written, I would rate them a 10! When eaten warm, they remind me of an oatmeal raisin cookie. SO good!