One for the looming sugar-free February. You can adapt this to use whatever dried fruit you like, just try to stick to the suggested proportions.
What to use
- Porridge oats – 300g
- Mixed seeds – whatever you fancy – 80g
- Flaked almonds – 50g
- Dried apricots – 60g
- Cranberries – 50g
- Sultanas – 60g
- Desiccated coconut – 80g
To combine
- 1 tbsp butter
- 2 tbsp cashew nut butter
- 3 tbsp coconut oil
- 3 tbsp maple syrup
- 100-150ml boiled water
How to use it
Measure out all your ingredients and put them into a large mixing bowl.
With the seeds and apricots, I put them into a bowl and covered with boiling water. For the seeds it was to soften them a little before baking to stop them going really hard, and with the apricots just to revive and soften them a little. Once you’ve left them for 5-10 minutes, scoop them out but keep the water as this can be used in the mix. Gently warm the butter, cashew nut butter, coconut oil and maple syrup in a non stick pan. You’ll need to stir it quite hard to encourage the cashew butter to break down and mix in with the rest – it might look a bit odd, don’t worry about it.
When it’s melted, add the water and butter/syrup to the bowl and mix really well, making sure everything is coated.
It’s not an exact science – you may choose to play with the volume of certain ingredients – so I keep the pan to hand to warm and add more coconut oil/syrup or add a bit more hot water if it looks like it needs it. Line a baking tin (I used one approx 8 x 12 inches) with baking parchment, and scrape the mix in. Press down firmly.
Bake in the oven at 150C (fan) for an hour – the trick is long and low with this so that it’s cooked but not burnt on top. When you’re happy it’s done – nice and brown on top – take out and put on cooling rack.
The thing I like about this is that you can fairly easily play with the ingredients. This version is very coconutty, which I love, but you might want to grind some almonds or cashews and use those in place of the coconut.
Mmm rating: mm mm mm
What to listen to: He’s got Bills he’s gotta pay – Lunchmoney Lewis
What to watch: The first sketch from the first episode of A Bit of Fry and Laurie – I MISS THEM
eatburpsleep 