Curry spiced nut bars

I had these bars saved because they are gluten and dairy free, and vegan!

From the May 2018 issue of Food and Wine Magazine:

Ingredients:

1 cup raw cashews

1 cup raw almonds

1/2 cup raw walnuts

1 tablespoon virgin coconut oil, melted, plus more for greasing

1 tablespoon Madras curry powder

1/2 teaspoon kosher salt

1 cup puffed brown rice

1/2 cup toasted coconut chips

1/2 cup dates (about 5 dates), pitted and finely chopped

1 tablespoon flax meal

1 tablespoon toasted sesame seeds

1/2 cup brown rice syrup

How to Make It:

Step 1   

Preheat oven to 325°F. Combine cashews, almonds, walnuts, coconut oil, curry powder, and salt in a medium bowl; stir to coat. Transfer to a large baking sheet, and spread in an even layer. Bake until nuts are lightly toasted, 8 to 10 minutes.

Step 2   

Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with coconut oil, and line with parchment paper, leaving a 1-inch overhang on 2 sides. Toss together toasted nuts, puffed rice, coconut chips, dates, flax meal, and sesame seeds in a medium bowl. Add brown rice syrup, and stir to coat. Transfer to prepared pan, and bake at 325°F until toasted and starting to set, 15 to 18 minutes.

Step 3   

Transfer pan to a wire rack; let cool 20 minutes. Remove mixture from pan, and discard parchment; let cool completely. Using an oiled knife, cut into 12 bars. Individually wrap with parchment paper, and store in an airtight container. 

 Make Ahead:

Bars may be stored at room temperature up to 5 days.

My notes:
1. I didn’t use toasted coconut chips, didn’t have them, so I just added an extra half cup of rice cereal. Next time I'd consider sliced almonds or maybe unsweetened shredded coconut that is lightly toasted.
2. I used TJ’s curry powder because I didn’t have Madras curry powder. Loved the taste of the curry spiced nuts, could use a heaping TBSP next time
3. Used regular rice cereal instead of brown rice cereal. Worked out fine.
4. Used pitted deglet noir dates that were old and really hard so I soaked them for 5-10 minutes first, squeezed them the best I could and then chopped them fine, and gave myself a blister in process. I used way more than 5 dates as they were on the smaller side.
5. Baked the bits for about 8 minutes and baked the bars for about 15 minutes. I would do a little extra bake for the bars, maybe closer to 18 minutes as these were very sticky even when completely cooled
6. I would grease the inside of the parchment sheet next time as these bars were quite sticky. I would also bust out the liquid measuring cup because I used the half cup measuring cup and I think it ended up being too much brown rice syrup.
7. I liked the taste and I will certainly make these bars again with a few tweaks!