Bellini birdseed bars

We are big fans of raw treats like bliss balls.  However, I am not a fan of rolling them and getting sticky mucky hands.  I took the lazy approach with these and made them in a baking dish and then cut them into pieces once they had chilled and firmed up.

Were they good? HELL YES!!  Okay, I may have accidentally got a small piece that flew from the bench into my mouth tried a small piece.  My kids, who are my guinea pigs food testers gave it the thumbs up and that is all that matters really.

These have no sweetener at all as I had run out of maple syrup and you know what, they didn't need it as the coconut oil and dried fruit are sweet enough.  I also didn't use dates in this like I usually would.  I only had dried and didn't want to wait for them to soak.

Ingredients:

1c nuts ( I used a mix of almonds and cashews)

6 dried apricots

1/4c hazelnuts

3tbs raw cacao powder

1/4 shredded coconut

1/4c chia seeds

1/2c buckinis

1tsp cinnamon

1/2c coconut oil

Method:

Put the cup of nuts in your bowl (or food processor) and blitz until relatively fine.   Tip into a separate bowl.   

Put coconut oil and raw cacao in bowl, if your oil is solid (I live in Tassie) then heat at 50c for 20sec on speed 2 or until completely melted and smooth.   

Add all other ingredients including blitzed nuts and mix on speed 2 until well combined, about 10-20sec (I left cutting blade in).  I didn't want to do it too much as I wanted some texture but found this worked fine.

Line a dish with baking paper and spoon mix in.  I used a 20cm x 20cm dish and it was about 2cm deep.  Flatten very well so it is even.  I use a freezer bag spread over top so I can press mix down hard with the heel of my hand.  

Freeze for at least an hour then cut into pieces and refrigerate.