Honey Nut Bars

I have a tendency to meet pretty amazing people on my way. One of them is Erin. This girl was feeding me with healthy and delicious sweets almost my whole pregnancy. Yep, Erin is this kind of girl who gives you candies. One day she told me that she’s developing recipes for her new book and she has a lot of food at home like all the time. That day I wanted to move in with her. But as an angel she took a pity in a pregnant woman I was and she kept bringing me her creations. So it looks like I’ve tried most of the recipes. And I loved them. Now her book is out and I eat even more of her yummies, but this time I make it by myself. I love this girl and her passion and I want to share it with you.

So here comes a recipe from The sweet side of ancient grains – Honey nut bars. We ate them all. And for now we’re pretty happy that Mia doesn’t eat this kind of food yet, so we didn’t have to share with her (bad parenting).

You know why baking/cooking/preparing something special for a bite is worth an effort? Because it makes us happy. I think that we should celebrate each moment of our life. Few weeks ago we had a moment when I thought that I may loose Mia. It turned out to be ok, but for a period of two days I was dying inside. I asked Tomasz for a moment just for myself. They stayed at home reading books (Mia is all into illustrations) and I went for a walk, mostly crying for a whole time and having extreme scenarios in my head. Crying releases emotions, so by the time I went back home I could carry mountains around. Mia is fine plus she’s so cool that she’s better to look at than the best movie. But this moment made me realise what’s important in life. I used to think I know, but yet again I didn’t. And good, healthy and delicious food is a part of it. I know that we don’t always have time to prepare lunch or dinner, but hey, what do we have a freezer and evening for. I wish you all the best. Big hug.

You will need for crust:

• 169g unsalted butter
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• pinch of salt
• 1 & ¾ cup white whole-wheat flour

For honey nut topping:

• 7 tbsp honey
• 1/3 cup light brown sugar
• ¼ + 1/8 tsp salt
• 75g unsalted butter cut into pieces
• ½ cup roasted salted peanuts
• ½ cup walnuts or pecans, chopped
• ½ cup almonds
• ½ cup hazelnuts

Heat an oven to 175*C. Line a baking pan (15cm x 25cm or 20cm on 20cm) with a baking paper so it sticks out a bit.

Now moving to a crust. In a bowl mix butter and sugar so it’s creamy (you can use electric mixer). Then add the rest of ingredients and mix the dough so ingredients combain. The dough will be crumbly.

Move the dough to the baking pan and press it to a bottom. Bake for 12-15 minutes (it shouldn’t be wet anymore and it can become lightly brown on corners). Remove from oven and let it cool for about 10 minutes.

In a saucepan place honey, suger and salt and frequently stirring bring it to boil over a medium heat, then boil for 2 more minutes without stirring. Add butter and let it melt and bring it to boil again. Stirring constantly, boil for 90 seconds. Remove the pan from the heat and add nuts and stir to completely coat them in the mixture.

Pour the nut mixture over the crust and use spatula to spread it evenly. Bake for 25 minutes. Cool completely and cut into bars.

Enjoy, Marta