Nut bars

I came across with this recipe while visiting a friend and between discussing the benefits of aloe vera she gave me one of these bars and I got addicted. I immediately asked her for the recipe and I decided to give it a go.
I changed few things because I added few things to my taste.

These bars are packed of flavour with the mix between nuts, coconut, orange and the special touch is indeed the rose water, that although is optional I totally recommend to try it.

These bars make a perfect snack for lunch boxes of adults and kids.

Ingredients:

• 1/2 cup of honey (I used a bit less than 1/2 cup)
• 1/2 cup of raw almonds (roughly chopped) 
• 1/2 cup of pistachios (roughly chopped)
• 1 cup of sunflower seeds
• 1/2 cup of shredded coconut 
• Zest of 1 orange
• 1 Tbsp of fresh orange juice 
• 2 tsp of cinnamon 
• Pinch of salt 
• 1Tbsp of rose water (optional) 

Let's do it:

• Pre-heat the oven to 180 C and line a square ceramic dish with baking paper, allowing excess paper on the sides 
• For preparing the nuts (almonds and pistachios) you can place them in a cutting board and roughly cut them with a big knife, or you can put them inside of a kitchen towel and beat them up with the cooking roll or a meat hammer (a nice way to release stress). Either way, you want to have big chunky pieces of nuts so don't put them in a food processor
• In a bowl mix all the ingredients with the exception of the honey and mix them well 
• In a saucepan pour the honey and allow it to warm up but not boil. You will see that the honey becomes liquid
• Pour the honey in the mixture and stir well until the honey is well combined and coated all the mixture
• Pour the mixture to the ceramic tin and spread homogeneously and press to form a compact layer 
• Bake for 25 minutes or until golden brown 
• Remove from the oven and let it cool down in the ceramic dish in room temperature. When the mixture is almost cooled, put it in the fridge for 30 minutes before cutting it in bars. If it's totally cold and refrigerated makes it easier to cut without breaking in pieces
• Remove the baking paper carefully and place it in a cutting board. Cut the bars in the desired size
• I wrapped each bar in baking paper and tied with kitchen string. This makes it easier to remove them from the container and even eating them without get sticky fingers :) 

You can keep the bars in a container in the fridge for 2 weeks easily...if they last that long :) In here they lasted 4 days...ups!! 

Time of preparation: 30 minutes (10 minutes of preparation plus 20 minutes baking)

Quantity: Depends on the size of the bars that you want. For me it gave me 8 rectangular bars but you can make the double if you prefer small squares.

Today I leave you an awesome band from the 90's that was probably the band that lead me into the world of alternative music and even now when new bands arise and are widely listen,  the old ones still have their legacy and The Breeders will keep their legacy for someone that used to listen the 90's alternative rock music. 

Have a nice day!