Well I actually call these ‘smoosh bars’…if you’ve been following for a while you’ll have probably already figured that out since they pop up quite a lot (read: I am a little obsessed!)’ Smoosh Bars’ was a name that my family began to call them since when asked what they were I simply said ‘its just lots of healthy ingredients all smooshed together.’  It stuck!

I figured smoosh bars  was maybe an odd title for the post…probably less likely to entice people over, and then they’d be missing out on all the fun…(these bars are a lot of fun). So no- bake Christmas candy collection it is since today I am sharing with you my entire collection so far, but the variations are almost limitless, I’d love for you to share your own favourite flavour combos since I know many of you make this sort of thing yourself too!

Below you’ll find the links to previous smoosh posts, note that most of these bars contain nuts. In more recent weeks I have been running low on my cashew and almond supplies and have had a surplus of sunflower seeds, so to readdress this balance I made all the flavours linked below with sunflower seeds in place of the nuts to see how they worked out. The result was almost identical. If I absolutely had to choose I’d maybe say the nut version slightly won over the seed, but there is very little in it, so here we have the perfect most versatile bar collection perfect for school lunches and nut allergy sufferers… and in actual fact perfect for pretty much everyone!

Take your pick and go play!

Chocolate orange bars

Gingerbread Christmas cubes

Fudge topped gingerbread squares
Ginger pumpkin bars with carob

Roasted peanut and cranberry bars

Sunbutter coconut bars

Oh and last but not least…do you remember these mini Christmas puds?…they were my favourite thing last year!

Now, here I have two new recipes to excite you:

Recipe: Marzipan almond smoosh

Makes approx. 10 bars

Ingredients:

70g dates

70g raisins

100g almonds (or sunflower seeds) I did use almonds to make it more aurthentic

50g buckwheat flour (or oatmeal)

30g dessicated coconut

30g dried cranberries

1tsp almond extract*

Topping (optional): 50g cashews or blanched almonds, few drops almond extract and 2 tbs agave syrup. Extra flaked almonds to decorate.

Recipe: Chocolate peppermint smoosh

Ingredients:

70g dates

70g raisins

100g sunflower seeds (or mild flavoured nuts)

40g buckwheat flour (or oatmeal)

30g dessicated coconut

20g cocoa powder

1tsp peppermint extract*

Topping (optional): 50g cashews or blanched almonds, few drops peppermint extract and 2 tbs agave syrup. If desired you could decorate with mini choc drops as a nice contrast.

Method (for both):

Blitz the nuts/seeds in a food processor for a few seconds until they are coarse. Add all remaining ingredients and blitz until you have a fine sticky ‘dough’.

Press the dough into a square container or smallish loaf tin lined with parchment (tin should be approx. 10x15cm) and pack down firmly, I use the flat end of a rolling pin to do this.

To make the top layer, blitz cashews or blanched almonds (make sure there is no skin as it will discolour the result) until they begin to get sticky, add a little agave and flavouring to taste and process a little longer.

Press a thin layer of nut mixture over the bottom layer and decorate with flaked almonds if desired.

 Chill for a couple of hours until firm enough to slice neatly.

Note: you could form into balls instead of making slices.

*use oil based and not alcohol based extracts if possible since the alcohol based versions have a slightly bitter taste due to the alcohol not being ‘burnt off’ as the bars are not baked.