It is very strange - I love almond butter and marzipan but can't stand almonds. That said, I don't love almond butter enough to spoon it directly out of the container into my mouth so I periodically have to find recipes that will use up the mason jar of home made almond butter that has been sitting in the fridge for too long. Since I am always looking for healthy breakfasts and snacks for L., the original recipe linked below seemed like a no-brainer though, due to all the dried fruit and the chocolate, it is not nearly as healthy as it looks as though it should be. That said, I couldn't leave it as is - I wanted more textures and flavors so here is my version as well.
Recipe:
Makes 10 bars or 30 balls
1 1/2 cups oatmeal
1/2 c fig jam (or rehydrate dried figs and blitz them in the food processor)
1/2 cup chopped dates
1/4 cup chopped dried figs
1/4 cup chopped candied citrus peel
1/4 cup dried cranberries
1/2 cup dark chocolate chips (or better yet 1/3 cup cacao nibs as the dried fruit does make the bars quite sweet)
1/2 cup chopped walnuts
1/4 cup chopped salted peanuts
1 tsp microplaned lemon zest
1/4 cup maple syrup (or honey)
1/3 cup almond butter
1/4 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
Preheat the oven to 350. Spread the oats on a baking sheet and bake for 15 minutes, shaking the pan from time to time so that the oats become a uniform golden brown.
While the oats are roasting, melt the almond butter and the maple syrup together over very low heat.
Line a shallow pan with parchment paper or cling wrap.
Place all the other ingredients in a large bowl and mix well. Add the warm almond butter-maple syrup mixture to the bowl and mix again, well.
As soon as the oats are done add them to the mixture and stir well to coat the oats with the fruit and chocolate mixture.
Place in the lined pan, fold the parchment paper over the top and press down to ensure that the mixture is compact and that the top is even.
Place in the freezer for 30 minutes and then cut into pieces. L. enjoyed these with a glass of milk but they went down quite well in the afternoon as an adult pick me up with tea. The bars keep for a few days at room temperature and a few days longer if refrigerated though they change a bit texturally. After 5 days I broke the slightly dry remainder up and served it in a bowl with yogurt on top. But quite frankly, the only reason I had any left past day 1 was because we had other snack options in the house.
Obviously, this is one of those lovely recipes that you can adapt to whatever is in your pantry and change around the dry fruit and the nuts. Because I used chopped peel and figs, these bars tasted very Christmassy and I will probably make them at some point over the next holiday season, perhaps gilding the lily by glazing the top with melted dark chocolate.
Oh, and P.S., should the mixture not want to form bars (which happened to me the first time I attempted this) and be soft and uncutable even after freezer time, form the mixture into bite sized balls and roll in oat bran so that they don't stick. They will taste just as good.
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