Chewy Nutty Honey Bars

Are you looking for a healthy breakfast or snack food?  This is it!  These Chewy Nutty Honey Bars are exactly that.  Healthy and perfect for a mid-day snack or on the go breakfast.  The  best feature of this recipe is it’s very versatile.  These bars deliver chewy texture and a bit of crunch from the seeds and nuts.  The sweet yet tangy bite of the cranberries will leave you coming back for more.

Here are some suggestions for substitutions for the recipe below.  Instead of using those sweet-tart cranberries,  adding dates, dried apricots or figs will leave you wanting one more honey bar.  I used pecans but walnuts, peanuts or cashews would still deliver a yummy crunch.  Choose your favorite.  Pumpkin seeds could be replaced with sunflower seeds, chia or flax.  I liked the color the pumpkin seeds lent to the bars, especially along with the juicy red cranberries.  One ingredient I would  not substitute is the honey.  I used Wholesome Sweeteners organic honey. It’s the next best thing to my honey!

While we are on the subject of pumpkin seeds – did you know that men can suffer from low levels of testosterone?  Ladies, who wants a grumpy guy around the house?  I absolutely do not!  Much like women going through menopause with decreased levels of estrogen, men experience a drop in testosterone as they age.  Pumpkin seeds are a natural way to help a man trying to preserve his masculinity, adding pumpkin seeds to your or your husbands diet is a great way to help raise testosterone levels naturally.  Just saying’.

These bars will become a staple in my kitchen.  Healthy, tasty and easy to put together and based on my previous suggestions, versatile as well.  Go ahead, look in your pantry and see how you can make these today.  If you give the recipe a try using alternate  ingredients drop me a note below in the comments section and fill me in on what you use.  I’ll probably want to give it a try!

Enjoy!
CHEWY NUTTY HONEY  BARS

Ingredients:
2 1/4 cup organic old-fashioned oats
1 1/2 cups Uncle Sam toasted whole wheat berry flakes
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup dried cranberries
2/3 cup dark brown sugar
1/2 cup Wholesome Sweeteners Fairtrade Organic Honey
6 tablespoons unsalted butter
1/4 cup organic smooth peanut butter
1 tablespoon Mexican vanilla extract
1 teaspoon Kosher salt

Line the bottom of a 9×13″ pan with parchment paper and spray with cooking spray. (I use coconut oil spray)
In a large bowl combine the oats, cereal, nuts, and fruit; stir to combine.
In a 2 qt. saucepan, combine the brown sugar, honey, vanilla, butter, peanut butter and salt.  Bring to a boil and cook, stirring with a wooden spoon, over medium-high heat until it reaches 220* on a candy thermometer.  Immediately pour the liquid mixture over the oat mixture, stirring until the dry ingredients are coated.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan and press into the pan using your fingers. Chill in the refrigerator for about an hour.  Cut into bars before serving.