Jul 25, 2023 Zesty Orange Honey Nut Bar

5 nut bars stacked on top of each other

This month's superfood spotlight shines a light on nuts (and seeds). Nuts are classified as a fruit that has a single edible seed surrounded by a hard inedible outer covering. Many of the foods we consider to be nuts, like almonds, cashews, walnuts, and pecans are seeds of drupes — fruits whose flesh surrounds a single shell with a seed inside.

Nuts are chock full of minerals like vitamin E, magnesium, copper and selenium, and are a great source of fiber and healthy fats. Nuts are also loaded with protein, containing as much as 13 grams in a half cup of mixed nuts. Due to their nutritional profile, nuts are considered an essential part of a heart healthy diet as they are helpful in lowering LDL cholesterol and triglycerides. Including nuts in your regular eating pattern can also help with managing diabetes, lowering inflammation, reducing your risk for heart attack and stroke, and support sustainable weight loss. Nuts are extremely versatile, making great toppings for dishes like oatmeal and salads or even play significant roles in meal preparations such as serving as a substitute for breadcrumbs for chicken and seafood dishes.

This Zesty Orange Honey Nut Bar keeps our superfood at center stage and gives you all of the nutritional benefits of keeping nuts as part of a healthy diet.

Ingredients

  • 1 cup cashews
  • ½ cup almonds
  • ½ cup pecans
  • ½ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
  • 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
  • Zest of half of a navel orange
  • ½ tsp sea salt
  • ¼ tsp ground ginger
  • ½ cup + 1 Tbsp honey (total of 9 Tbsp)

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350F and line an 8x8 baking pan with parchment paper.
  2. Roughly chop the almonds and cashews by hand, in a hand chopper, in a blender or in a food processor to ¼ inch pieces.
  3. Combine all ingredients except honey in a large bowl and stir until combined. Pour in the honey and mix with a fork until everything is evenly coated.
  4. Spread mixture into the prepared baking dish, pressing down to pack it in and reach all edges and corners of the pan.
  5. Bake in oven for 20 minutes and then remove from oven to a wire rack.
  6. Let the bars cool for ~30 minutes, then left the bars out of the pan.
  7. Reshape bars into a square and continue to press down a little more until desired shape and thickness is achieved.
  8. Wrap individually in parchment to keep from sticking together.

Serving Information

Serving size: 1 bar

Nutrition Information

Calories: 135
Total fat: 9 g
Carbohydrate: 11 g
Fiber: 1 g
Protein: 2 g
Sodium: 75 mg