Walnut and Raisin Bars

Eating walnuts were always an challenge in India. Breaking them and eating them was a difficult task. I don't know if they sell the nuts alone there without the shells. As we always bought them with the shells, whenever we buy them there would be a war between us and the walnuts. It has an unique taste among all the other nuts. When we were kids we used to even have a competition to see how many one can break and eat:)

After coming here my job was made easy. When I was pregnant with my little one, someone told me that walnuts are a good source of Omega3. So I used to get lots of those chopped walnuts from the stores and eat them regularly:) If there is someone who could tell you all the possible ways to use walnuts I might be the best person. Since I decided to eat them regularly, I used to toast them and sprinkle a lot in my ice cream, cake, sweet puttu, carrot halwa(I had a sweet tooth during by pregnancy)...I used to make banana nut muffins very often(as I was also that eating banana regularly is also good during pregnancy).

So when I saw the event "Announcing Lets Go Nuts: walnuts and pecans " I thought I should definitely send something. So I made these bars. This is a healthy bar with the goodness of the oats, walnuts and raisins. It is a very simple and easy recipe which you can make at any time. It takes very less time to prepare and bake.

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cups Quick cooking oats

1/2 cup chopped walnuts

1/4 cup golden raisins(you can use any raisins)

1/3 cup Dark brown sugar

3 tbsp honey

2 tbsp canola oil

2 tbsp butter

1/2 tsp cinnamon powder

Preheat the oven to 350F. Meanwhile melt the butter in a pan on the stove. Once the butter is completely melted remove from the heat and quickly stir in the oil and honey. Mix them completely. Add the oats, sugar, walnuts, raisins and the cinnamon powder to this and mix until all the ingredients blend together. It should be a little crumbly but if it is too dry then add few drops of oil to the mixture. Now pour this mixture in a 8x8 inch square baking pan. Press the mixture tightly with the back of the spoon. Now bake them in the preheated oven for 20 mins. Cut them into squares when they are still warm(Don't remove them from the baking pan as they have to cool to hold the shape). Cool them on a wire rack. Munch them whenever you like:)

I am sending this as an entry for the "Announcing Lets Go Nuts: walnuts and pecans " .
Since they also fit into the healthy and easy to gran and go as a snack, I am sending them to the "Sunday snacks - Grab n Go" event hosted by Pallavi.