Lindsay Kolasa

Super seed bars ready to enjoy (dried peach, chia, pumpkin seeds, pistachios, crispy walnuts, sesame seeds)

Cooking and kitchen witchery, to me, are an endless, unraveling narrative…of places I have been…people I have known…and flavors I have explored.  Take this recipe as an example…

A friend of mine, from my San Francisco days, gave me this recipe to try.  I was on my way to the desert to camp and needed some good, wholesome snacks.  She said she always took these ‘grainless granola’ bars with her when she camped.  I told her I’d like to give it a try.

This was over 10 years ago.  She has since passed away.

Another version of the super seed bar:  macadamia nuts, sesame seeds, chia seeds, and dulse flakes (seaweed).  This picture shows the form I press the seeds & honey into with a spatula to dehydrate and then cut into bars.

I only made these bars twice…both for camping trips.  And now, hunkered down in lock down mode…I feel like I’m ‘fancy camping,’ as I like to call it…  So, I found the recipe in my recipe book…I thought of my friend and knew she lived on even through this simple act of ‘recipe remembrance’……..and off I went to recreate a long lost snack.

This is the kind of recipe that you make your own…experiment…  Check out the text below the picture at the top of this blog post for a combination I used for my seed bars.

Some of her favorite combos:
*pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, pecans, raisins
*almond, coconut flakes, dried cherries
*pistachio, walnut, cashew

My second round of super seed bars (recipe revival) — coconut shreds, crispy walnuts, sprouted pumpkin seeds, pistachios, hemp seeds, chia seeds, dried peach

Super Seed Bars
8-10 bars

2 cups nuts/seeds/coconut shreds
1/4 cup honey
one handful of dried fruit

Soak seeds and nuts in salt water overnight.  Do not soak flax, chia, sesame seeds, hemp seeds, and small seeds (some become gooey with mucilage while others turn too mushy).  You can add those after you dehydrate your larger seeds and nuts.

Why soak large seeds and nuts?  To denature anti-nutrients.  You can also buy sprouted nuts and use them in this recipe, skipping that first step.

Dehydrate at 150-170 until crisp (about 4-6 hours depending on temp).  You can just let them dehydrate overnight while you are sleeping, if you want.

Coarsely grind nuts and/or seeds in a food processor or blender.  Mix together with honey and dried fruit (and chia or flax if you want that in your bars).  Place on parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

It may not look sticky enough, but have no fear.  Shape and flatten with a spatula.

Place in an oven at 150-170 degrees and let dehydrate (4-6 hours, depending on temp).  You can also let these dehydrate overnight.  Take out of oven and press/flatten with a spatula, again.  Cut into bars on parchment paper…gently wedging some space between them.  Place in fridge to harden (1 hour or so).

Take out of fridge and break bars off from each other.  Store in an air tight container in the fridge.