Happy Birthday, George: Cherry Bars

I can not tell a lie: it’s George Washington’s birthday. Since he is most associated with cherries and sharp objects, let’s do a cherry recipe that requires a food processor. Cherries are out of season or dried fruit will fit the bill.

I purchase my dried fruit from Green PolkaDot Box. I use Oskri Organics because they aren’t run on shared equipment. If you aren’t gluten-free, they have both dates and nuts available that will work for you from Aurora or Nutty Guys. If you’re gluten-free, you’ll need to find a different source since both of those brands are run on shared equipment with wheat.

This snack has been in the Menu Mailers since Volume One. You’ll recognize it as a traditional foods version of a Lara Bar. I love them because they’re versatile, portable and quick to make. Nothing screams ‘happy mama’ like a quick, mess-free snack the kids can help make.

This is a go-to snack for us when I have crispy nuts of any kind on hand. You can use any dried fruit in place of the cherries, you can substitute raisins for part of the dates, you can even add cocoa powder, raw cacao powder, spices and extracts to produce different flavors. The sky’s the limit and this is a wonderful snack because you can fit it to whatever you have available on hand.

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Cherry Bars
From the Menu Mailer

Makes 4 bars or 16 balls

1/2 – 3/4 cup crispy walnuts, pecans, almonds &/or cashews
1/2 cup chopped, pitted dates
1/2 cup dried cherries
2 Tbs flaked coconut, optional

Place the nuts in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Add the remaining ingredients and blend until doughy. If the ingredients are too dry to blend into a dough, add water ½ tsp at a time until it blends easily.

Roll into balls or press into a loaf pan or half of an 8×8 pan and cut into bars.

Store in an air-tight container. Wrap individual bars in parchment and then cover with a layer of plastic wrap or place into a ziplock bag for easy travel, if desired.

This post was shared on Friday Food Flicks.

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KerryAnn Foster runs Cooking Traditional Foods, the longest running Traditional Foods Menu Mailer on the internet, now in its seventh volume. KerryAnn has eleven years of traditional foods experience and is a former Weston A. Price Foundation chapter leader.  Read about KerryAnn’s journey to health through multiple miscarriages, celiac disease, food allergies and intolerances, obesity, adrenal fatigue and heavy metals.

Founded in 2005, CTF helps you feed your family nourishing foods they will love.  With two choices of Menu Mailers, multiple eBooks, Print Books and video-based classes, KerryAnn makes traditional foods easy, accessible, affordable and family friendly for everyone.

KerryAnn founded Nourished Living Network, a network for traditional food and natural living bloggers, in 2011. NLN provides support, publicity and networking opportunities for bloggers all across the traditional foods spectrum. Our Recipe Gallery features recipes from the fifty member blogs and growing.