Dried Fruit & Nut Treats

3 Kinds of Treats

Having to watch my sugar intake puts me on the lookout for sugar-free or no-sugar-added dessert options. These simple energy bites are ideal for snacking any time of day and will be enjoyed by both young and old members of the family.

Treats

They come together with just 4 ingredients and the most complicated part in making them is pulsing the ingredients in a food processor. The best part is that they don't need to be refrigerated or frozen and can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container.

Here's how simple the process is. 

1. Choose 2 dried fruits, 1 roasted nut and 1 item in which to roll the treats.
2. Pulse your fruit and nut choices in a food processor or Ninja chopper until the dough forms a big ball.
3. Make walnut-sized balls and roll around to cover in the 4th ingredient.
4. Place in pretty cupcake wrappers, store in an airtight container at room temperature and they're ready for a tiffin box or a grab-and-go snack.

Dried Fruit and Nut Sprinkles

Dried Fruit & Nut Sprinkles

Called Choori in Hindi, this muesli-like mixture is made with left-over chapatis or tortillas. I found the recipe on the internet. 

Instead of using excess tortillas for bird food, they can be toasted and pulsed in a blender with nuts, desiccated coconut, dried fruits such as dates and raisins and sugar, unrefined sugar, coconut sugar or jaggery. Choori can be served as a breakfast cereal, sprinkled over ice cream or eaten as a snack. Cooled and stored in an air-tight container, Choori can last for several weeks.

I used a couple of excess flour tortillas and a mixture of ingredients that I had at home, including almonds, unsweetened and dried desiccated coconut, dates, raisins and coconut sugar. The ingredients were blended together to a grainy texture and seasoned with cardamom powder (you can also use cinnamon powder) to give it that unique Indian flavour. 

Oatmeal Pancakes

Oatmeal Pancakes

Craving something wholesome and delicious first thing in the morning generally leads me straight to a breakfast loaded with carbohydrates. Oatmeal or porridge, which I love, takes some time and effort to prepare, so here is a low-carb, gluten-free and delicious alternative, for diabetics in particular.

These delicious 5-ingredient oatmeal pancakes go from pantry to table in under 15 minutes and are a cinch to make. Using a package of instant oatmeal flavoured with maple syrup and brown sugar (the box stated 50% less sugar than the regular) eliminates the need to add sugar to the batter. Top the pancakes any which way - with more maple syrup or fruit compote and/or nuts. I simply sprinkled pumpkin pie spice over my pancakes and paired them with a couple of veggie sausage patties. 

Savoury Oatmeal Pancakes

I've made savoury oatmeal pancakes before and those were delicious too. 

Nutty Granola

Nutty Granola

Serves: 6
Prep Time: 10 minutes
Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Ingredients:
3 cups Quaker Old Fashioned Oats
2 cups blanched & slivered almonds
1 cup Baker's sweetened & shredded coconut
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup vegetable oil
3/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup dried cranberries or cherries
1/2 cup raisins

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. In a large bowl, mix the first 4 ingredients.
3. In a separate bowl, combine the next 3 ingredients
4. Mix contents of both bowls together and stir until well combined.
5. Spread onto two baking trays and bake for 45 minutes, stirring every 15 minutes.
6. Allow to cool and stir in the dried fruits.
7. Cover loosely with wax paper and leave out overnight.
8. Store in an airtight container for up to a week.

This recipe makes two cookie trays of granola

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