No bake Christmas candy collection
Well I actually call these ‘smoosh bars’…if you’ve been
following for a while you’ll have probably already figured that out since they
pop up quite a lot (read: I am a little obsessed!)’ Smoosh Bars’ was a name
that my family began to call them since when asked what they were I simply said ‘its
just lots of healthy ingredients all smooshed together.’ It stuck!
I figured smoosh bars was maybe an odd title for the post…probably
less likely to entice people over, and then they’d be missing out on all the
fun…(these bars are a lot of fun). So no- bake Christmas candy collection it is
since today I am sharing with you my entire collection so far, but the
variations are almost limitless, I’d love for you to share your own favourite flavour
combos since I know many of you make this sort of thing yourself too!
Below you’ll find the links to previous smoosh posts, note
that most of these bars contain nuts. In more recent weeks I have been running
low on my cashew and almond supplies and have had a surplus of sunflower seeds,
so to readdress this balance I made all the flavours linked below with
sunflower seeds in place of the nuts to see how they worked out. The result was
almost identical. If I absolutely had to choose I’d maybe say the nut version
slightly won over the seed, but there is very little in it, so here we have the
perfect most versatile bar collection perfect for school lunches and nut
allergy sufferers… and in actual fact perfect for pretty much everyone!
Take your pick and go play!
Oh and last but not least…do you remember these mini Christmas puds?…they were my favourite
thing last year!
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| I still love these mini puds...the clove in the top infused the flavour and makes them taste so authentic! |
Now, here I have two new recipes to excite you:
Recipe: Marzipan almond smoosh
Makes approx. 10 bars
Ingredients:
70g dates
70g raisins
100g almonds (or sunflower
seeds) I did use almonds to make it more aurthentic
50g buckwheat flour (or
oatmeal)
30g dessicated coconut
30g dried cranberries
1tsp almond extract*
Topping (optional): 50g cashews
or blanched almonds, few drops almond extract and 2 tbs agave syrup. Extra
flaked almonds to decorate.
Recipe: Chocolate peppermint
smoosh
Ingredients:
Ingredients:
70g dates
70g raisins
100g sunflower seeds (or mild
flavoured nuts)
40g buckwheat flour (or
oatmeal)
30g dessicated coconut
20g cocoa powder
1tsp peppermint extract*
Topping (optional): 50g cashews
or blanched almonds, few drops peppermint extract and 2 tbs agave syrup. If
desired you could decorate with mini choc drops as a nice contrast.
Method (for both):
Blitz the nuts/seeds in a food
processor for a few seconds until they are coarse. Add all remaining ingredients
and blitz until you have a fine sticky ‘dough’.
Press the dough into a square
container or smallish loaf tin lined with parchment (tin should be approx.
10x15cm) and pack down firmly, I use the flat end of a rolling pin to do this.
To make the top layer, blitz cashews or blanched almonds
(make sure there is no skin as it will discolour the result) until they begin
to get sticky, add a little agave and flavouring to taste and process a little
longer.
Press a thin layer of nut mixture over the bottom layer
and decorate with flaked almonds if desired.
Chill for a couple
of hours until firm enough to slice neatly.
Note: you could form into balls
instead of making slices.
*use oil based and not alcohol based extracts if possible
since the alcohol based versions have a slightly bitter taste due to the
alcohol not being ‘burnt off’ as the bars are not baked.
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| chocolate peppermint bar |
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| almond marzipan bar |
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| roasted peanut and cranberry bar |
For further guidance on making gluten free choices please see this post.
For tips and info on recipe measurement conversions, ingredients, substitutions and the methods behind how I do things.... check out my 'baking tips' tab at the top of the page.