Planet of the apricots

Today's blog post brought to you by one very abused blender and the Whole Foods Recipe app. Also a seriously lazy day.

A day when all I want to do is lay in bed and eat Halloween candy and granola bars.

Except the granola bars here in Spain are actually pretty terrible.

So Tommy and I decided to be happy hippies and make our own using the ancient blender at his apartment which got very very warm during the course of its use.

Whoops.

We found this recipe for hemp seed apricot chews on the Whole Foods app and immediately said something along the lines of, "ew effing gross" and "what in the name of Nestle is a hemp seed and why would one eat such a thing."

Then we decided to change the recipe to fit our own purposes (aka not so disgustingly healthy and crunchy) and we came out with a chewy bar that was totally delicious and a lot less expensive than the crappy granola bars I bought at the store here. It was also full of seasonally appropriate autumnal colors. 

Mission accomplished.

The only annoying thing was we had to blend in batches so we didn't set the blender on fire and if we had the magical contraption that is the food processor this would have been a lot easier. So take it from me: use your food processor if you have one.

We liked these a lot better when they were cold than when they were room temperature because they got kind of awkwardly sticky but that was just us. These are also pretty much pure fiber so don't go crazy when you eat them or you might end up one very unhappy camper in the intestinal region and have no one to blame but yourself.

These keep, wrapped tightly in saran or in an airtight container, for about two weeks in the fridge. We cut them into individual squares after chilling them the first time for convenience purposes. This is also one where you can screw with it as much as you like. Use dried cherries or cranberries instead of apricots or add figs or prunes or whatever other dried fruit you'd like. We would've added pecans if they existed in this country but they just don't.

Ingredients:

3 c. dried apricots, roughly chopped

1 c. chopped pitted dates

1 c. walnuts

2 tbs. lemon juice

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1/2 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1. Line an 8x8 pan with parchment paper (or use a disposable metal one like we did) and set aside.

2. In a food processor, pulse all ingredients until a chunky paste forms.

 Transfer to the pan and press with a spatula to create an even thickness.

3. Cover and chill until firm, 1 to 2 hours, and then cut into squares for serving.