Ingredients
The following ingredients have 8 Servings
- 130 g / 1 cup almonds, divided
- 43 g / 1/3 cup sunflower seeds
- 45 g / 1/3 cup pumpkin seeds
- 15 g / ½ cup puffed rice
- ¼ cup low-sugar cranberries
- 80 ml / 1/3 cup maple syrup
- 45 g / 3 tbsp almond butter
- 30 ml / 2 tbsp almond (or other plant) milk
- ¼ tsp salt
- 100 g / 3½ oz vegan dark chocolate (optional)
Instruction
- OPTIONAL BUT RECOMMENDED: Place the first three ingredients on a baking tray and roast them in a 160° C / 320° F oven for about 10 minutes, until fragrant and lightly golden. Alternatively, toast on a large frying pan. Allow to cool down.
- While the nuts and seeds are roasting, line a baking tin* with a piece of baking paper so that a generous amount of it hangs out of the tin on both sides.
- Chop almonds up, keep one quarter of them aside for decoration and combine the rest with the sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, puffed rice and cranberries.
- Gently heat up maple syrup in a large frying pan until it starts foaming all over.
- Allow maple syrup to foam for a minute before whisking in almond butter. Carry on whisking until almond butter dissolves into the maple syrup completely. Add almond milk and salt. Carry on cooking the mixture until it foams for about 1 minute.
- Stir warm maple syrup mixture through the dry ingredients making sure everything is well coated.
- Transfer the mixture to a paper lined baking tin. Compress it really well - that's a very important step! I used a flat bottomed ¼ cup measuring cup to press the mixture down really well.
- Finally, weigh it down (I used 3 cans of beans on their sides, a chopping board and a pot filled with water) - good compression is key to the bars staying together.
- Once the bars are set, melt chocolate over a water bath slowly. Spread melted chocolate over the bars and sprinkle with leftover chopped almonds. Allow it to set completely.
- Cut the slab into individual bars with a very sharp knife. Store in an airtight container.
