naushika | fruit & nut bars om nom

I bought a bag of fresh bing cherries at the grocery store, but I don't really like fresh cherries because they're so tart. So I cut up the cherries into quarters and put them in my dehydrator, and now they are delicious sweet little gummy-like things. I used some of the dried cherries to make my own fruit & nut bars:

This is the original recipe BUT I altered mine significantly. I used:

1 2/3 cup unsweetened shredded coconut
1/2 cup whole almonds*
1 cup almond slivers
1/2 cup unsweetened dried cherries
1/4 cup coconut oil**
2 tbsp honey***
dash of kosher salt

*I ran the whole almonds through the food processor a bit. Some ended up partially pulverized, some broke apart into chunks, some were still almost whole. I wanted the size variety of the almond pieces.

**I added the coconut oil for three reasons: keeps things soft, helps preserve things, and also coconut oil is good for you. :D

***The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup of honey! That is wayyyy too much imho. I knocked it way down to 2 tbsp and the bars held up pretty well. I might increase to 3 tbsp if I make them again but I think a full 1/2 cup is unnecessary.

Otherwise I followed the same procedure as the original recipe (mix together & bake at 350 for ~30 mins).

They're quite tasty. The honey makes everything plenty sweet. I am trying to incorporate more nuts into my diet so I figure this is a good way. I've been trying lots of nut-related recipes lately. I've found a website that sells bulk nuts so I might just invest in some nuts and make more of my own snacks.

mmm nuts XD