August 22, 2002

• Fubars

  healthy whole-grain nutty herb and spice fruit bar cookies

  This is a versatile recipe, which works
  almost as well with one kind of fruit and nut as with various
  combinations of fruits, nuts and seeds.

  Butter and lightly dust with flour a

  large jelly roll pan (approx. 12″ x 18″)

  This yields 24
  bars.  For a smaller batch, use 1/4 amounts of ingredients and a
  9″ x 13″ pan, and reduce baking time to about 25 minutes.

  Preheat oven to 325°.

  Combine dry ingredients:

  4 cups of flour–at least half of the
  flour should be whole wheat to help bars cohere.  The other half
  can be any combination of other flours including, but not limited to,
  soy, rice, amaranth, or alfalfa flour or other herbs (I’d use Cannabis
  unless the cookies are for kids) ground fine and sifted.

  1/2 tsp. salt

  1 Tbsp. baking powder

  2 Tbsp. cinnamon

  1 tsp. cloves

  2 tsp. ginger

  1 tsp. allspice  (or substitute other spices to taste)

  Beat in a large bowl:

  12 large eggs

  2 cups honey

  1 cup melted butter

  2 Tbsp. pure
  vanilla extract (If all you have is imitation vanilla flavor, leave it
  out.  You may substitute lemon, maple or other extract{s} to
  complement and harmonize with your choice of fruits and nuts.)

  Stir dry ingredients into liquids.

  Stir in

  4 cups of dried fruit and

  2 cups of broken
  nut meats, sunflower or pumpkin seeds or wide-shred unsweetened
  cocoanut.  ( I never use peanuts because many people are allergic
  to them and they can harbor aflatoxin.)

  Or stir in fruits, leave out nuts and add them to whipped cream
  for topping.  That’s a great alternative I discovered by accident.

  You may also add, if you wish:

  1 1/2 cups chocolate chips, yogurt chips, or carob chips.

  BUT BEFORE YOU BEGIN,

  choose your fruits
  and nuts.  These are fruit bars, nutty fruit bars.  The above
  recipe is a rather heavy, uninteresting cake by itself, but it does an
  excellent job of holding fruit and nuts together.

  Sun-dried
  wildforaged or homegrown fruits, nuts, grains, herbs, etc., are best of
  course.  If it comes from a store, two dried fruits I always
  include for both flavor and economy are

  dates and pineapple.  Extruded dates cost lots less and are less likely to have pits.

  They are enough, by themselves, or you can add:

  mango, papaya or other tropical fruit or

  apples, peaches, pears, nectarines and/or
  raisins, figs, prunes, berries… just don’t try those crisp “banana
  chips” that are fried and glazed. *shudder*

  The easy way to deal with the fruit/nut issue is by using gorp or trail mix.  My own favorite combination is:

  pineapple and dates for their sweetness

  peaches, nectarines, cranberries and apples for their flavors

  pecans and pumpkin seeds for flavor and nutrition

  Ghirardelli’s large dark bittersweet chocolate chips for no reason at all.

  Bake at 325° for about 45 minutes or until the center springs back from a light touch.

  

  • 11:10 pm
  • 11 Comments