Delicious Energy Bites - Try it!

I stumbled upon this recipe from Oh She Glows today and made it tonight and it is DELICIOUS! It was really pretty easy, though I had never made a "flax egg" before (flax seed and water mixed together - a vegan alternative to egg). The finished product was so delicious that I had a hard time wrapping them up for snacks at work. But, I managed!

Also, I learned an important lesson today. Wax paper and parchment paper do not act exactly the same in the oven. In fact, wax paper may catch fire in your oven. Luckily, I'll pulled it out before flames appeared...

Fruit and Nut Energy Bites (from Oh She Glows website)

Chewy, crunchy, delicate, and sweet. Packed with walnuts and dried fruit, these all natural energy bites will have you buzzing along in no time. They can easily be adapted with other dried fruits, nuts, and spices and would be perfect for outdoor Fall and Winter activities.

Adapted from Joy of Baking.

Ingredients:
1/3 cup whole-grain Kamut flour (or all-purpose, whole wheat, etc) - I used all purpose
1/8 tsp baking soda
1/8 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp sea salt
1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/3 cup Sucanat or light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups toasted walnuts (can also use pecans, hazelnuts or almonds), chopped - I used almonds because that's what I had in the house
1/2 cup dried cherries or cranberries - I used raisins instead, because I had those around

12 Medjool dates (approx 1 cup chopped dates), pits removed and chopped (or figs, and/or prunes) - I didn't put any dates/figs/prunes in
1 cup dried apricots, cut into bite size pieces - I used cranberries instead
1 flax egg (1 tbsp ground flax + 3 tbsp water) - this is cool!
1 tbsp almond milk - I used regular milk
1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste or 1 tsp pure vanilla extract

Directions: Preheat oven to 325F. Line a square pan (8 or 9 inch) with parchment paper across both sides for easy lifting. In a small bowl mix together the flax egg and set aside.

Chop and toast the walnuts for 8-9 minutes at 325F. Remove from oven and set aside. Toasting the nuts really brings out the flavour so you don’t want to skip this step.

In a large bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, sugar, baking powder, cinnamon, and salt. Stir in the walnuts and dried fruit. Make sure the nuts and dried fruit are all coated with the flour mixture.

Mix the vanilla into the flax egg after it has thickened up after about 10 minutes.

Add the flax egg mixture and the 1 tbsp almond milk to the fruit and nut mixture and mix well.

Spread into the pan, pressing with fingers to even it out. I used a pastry roller too.

Bake for about 33-35 minutes at 325For until golden in colour. Remove from pan and allow to cool on wire rack for 10 minutes. Now transfer back into the pan and placein freezer to set for 10 minutes. Remove from pan once again and allow to cool for about 10 minutes. Now slice the bites up with a sharp knife. Makes 16-20 bites depending on how large you make them. I made them smaller as they are very dense energy wise.

I love this recipe because it's so adaptable! Use whatever nuts you like, whatever dried fruit you have around or prefer, etc. It smells absolutely delicious when it's baking because of the cinnamon and vanilla and tastes absolutely divine! Because I was an idiot and thought I could use wax paper in the oven (hey, everyone is allowed a stupid moment now and then) I had to transfer it quickly (read: before a fire began/midway through baking) to another baking dish and didn't have a small one, so actually finished baking it on the jelly roll pan. It kept its form while baking but when I went to transfer it to the cooling rack it started to crumble. I did manage to get it back into the square pan to go in the freezer and then it regained its shape a bit and I was able to cut the bites into little squares when it was all said and done. Next time, I'll use parchment paper and the whole thing should be much easier! (Though all the crumblies sure did taste good as I "cleaned up" hehehe)