These honey hemp bars truly sparkle with goodness. Crunchy, crispy and chewy, made with light-as-air puffed brown rice. Mix the puffed rice with buttery-rich pecans, and sesame, pumpkin and hemp seeds,and nutritious flax. These bar cookies pack a whole lot of healthy love.
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Think of honey hemp bars as the love child of rice crispy treats and power bars. With air-puffed grain, six different nuts and seeds and a bit of dried fruit, each ingredient contributes to overall appeal and nutrient value. These are healthy treats!
Ingredients in Honey Hemp Bars:
- Puffed brown rice is the main ingredient, the base for everything else. It’s the puffed rice that gives these bars their airy lightness.
- Superfood omega fat and protein-strong hemp seeds, also called hemp hearts, give these bars their name.
- Pecans (or walnuts) add sweetness and soft crunch.
- Pumpkin seeds add louder crunch and sesame seeds fill in the blanks, both adding their nutritious qualities.
- Flax meal, or ground flax seeds, help bond everything together, at the same time contributing more healthful omega fats.
- And, for a bit of tang, dried fruit. You can use dried currants or any other dried fruit, like apricots or raisins, cut in small pieces.
- Stir the all the puffy crunchy fruity goodies with the sweet glue that binds–a mix of warm sweet honey and date paste, a pinch of salt and a little vanilla.
***** About date paste: You can make the date paste yourself by chopping a super-moist Medjool date and smooshing it with the back of a knife. Or, if you have date nectar, use it–it’s more liquidy than date paste but works just fine.
What else can you make with these ingredients, since this recipe calls for such small amounts?
- Keep a roll of these Date and Puffed Rice Cookies in the freezer, ready to slice and bake.
- A mix of flax meal and water is a very good vegan substitute for whole eggs, as in my Apple Cinnamon Muffins.
- Pumpkin seeds and dates add crunch and sweet to this yummy Wild Rice and Arugula Salad.
- Blueberry and Maple Hemp Muffins employ both “flax egg” and hemp!
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This recipe comes from Alice Medrich’s Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-In-Your-Mouth Cookies cookbook. (Affiliate link) Besides tempting recipes for treats with butter and sugar, there’s a mouthwatering selection of whole-grain, wheat-free and/or dairy-free bars and cookies. Nourishing gluten-free honey hemp bars are in the Chewy chapter, though these addictive little munchies could easily belong to the Crunchy or Crispy chapters.
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Easy Honey Hemp Bars
Ingredients
- 1 ½ cups puffed rice cereal (I used Arrowhead Mills puffed brown rice)
- ½ cup hemp seeds
- ½ cup pecan or walnut halves, chopped in 1/4-inch pieces
- 2 tablespoons sesame seeds
- ½ cup raw pumpkin seeds
- 2 teaspoons ground flax meal
- 2 tablespoons dried currants (see note)
- ½ cup honey
- 1 tablespoon date paste or mashed dates
- ½ teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
Instructions
- Line the bottom and sides of an 8-inch square metal pan with parchment paper. Preheat the oven to 300°F. Position a rack in the lower third of the oven.
- In a large bowl, toss the cereal, hemp seeds, pecans, sesame seeds, pumpkin seeds, flax meal and currants to mix.
- In a small saucepan, warm the honey, date paste, salt, and vanilla, stirring and mashing until the date paste is dissolved and/or evenly dispersed. Pour the honey mixture over the dry ingredients and fold until all of the ingredients are moistened and sticky.
- Scrape the mixture into the lined pan and spread it evenly with a fork. Using the back of the fork tines, press the mixture very firmly all over to compact and adhere the ingredients.
- Bake for 25 to 30 minutes, until the top is barely golden (if in doubt, take it out, so that the honey does not get scorched). Cool in the pan.
- When cool, lift the bars from the pan. Gently peel off the parchment. Cut into bars or squares with a heavy sharp knife.
What colorful bars! I can assure these light but tasty treats, will accompany on many spring and summer hikes and mountain bike rides. · 21 April, 2015
You’ve inspired me. GREG · 21 April, 2015
What a delicious way to eat healthier. · 3 May, 2015