Nut bar recipe

Today we stayed home and rested, so no pictures of anything from out and about. Instead of taking another picture of the drying rack, I decided to take a series of pictures as I made nut bars. These are my breakfast every morning - I eat one on the train on my way to work. You may notice that they are pretty hefty, but they are my *whole* breakfast and usually keep me full for the next four hours.

The recipe is based on a bunch of different recipes I googled. My goal was to have a relatively high ratio of protein to sugar while still having bar that holds together. I kept trying "homemade Kind bar" and "paleo nut bar" and "protein bar" but the end result is not any of those things.

Ingredients:
1 2/3 cups whole raw nuts (walnuts, cashews, pecans, and/or almonds)
1/3 cup sunflower seeds
2 Tbsp coconut oil
4 Tbsp honey
2/3 cup oats
1/3 cup dried fruit
1 egg white

First, preheat the oven to 375. Then chop the nuts until the largest pieces are about as big as half an almond and the smallest pieces are close to a powder. For these bars, it's nice to have a variety of nut piece sizes.

Then put the coconut oil in the pan... 

Add they honey, and heat until they become liquid: 

Add the nut mixture, the sunflower seeds, and the oats. Mix and roast over medium heat for a few minutes until the mixture is coated. 

Turn off the heat and add the dried fruit (here, chopped apricots, but I usually use cranberries). Let the mixture cool for a minute, and separate the egg. 

Add the egg white to the mixture, quickly mixing it so that it doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan and get fried. 

Spread the mixture on a baking sheet covered in parchment paper. Smooth the sides so they are even; any nut piece sticking out on the end will likely not stick to the bars. I usually put a layer of parchment paper on top the bars, then use a cutting board to press down and compact the whole thing. Below, pre and post compacting:

Bake for 10-12 minutes, until the edges brown. The goal is to bake them enough so that the bars stick together, but to avoid burning the edges. I left mine in a bit too long: 

Let it cool for at least 15 minutes, and then set in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. The longer they sit, the easier it will be to cut them up without them coming apart. I cut this recipe into 8 or 9 bars, depending on how solid they seem - this time, I went for 8 because they didn't spend long enough in the fridge and I knew they'd come apart a bit. Make sure you use a sharp knife (that will cut through nuts) to cut into bars:

I wrap mine in foil:

And set aside any of the extra nuts to eat with cereal later. I recommend storing them in the fridge (or freezer).