Play Me a Recipe

Amy Chaplin makes Super Green Bars

Episode Summary

'Whole Food Cooking Every Day' author and Food52 Resident Amy Chaplin shares a variation on her Hazelnut Dukkah Bars: these super green, super seedy bars are ready for back-to-school.

Episode Notes

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters (if you're in Apple Podcasts, swipe up on the episode player page—the podcast chapters will be at the bottom).  

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Amy starts listing them at 1:09) before starting the episode.

Super Green Bars, a variation on Hazelnut Dukkah Bars
Makes 16 to 20 bars, depending on the pan you use (see below)

• 1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces | 215 g) raw pumpkin seeds
• 1 ½ cups (7 ½ ounces| 215 g) Austrian pumpkin seeds
• 2 cups (3½ ounces | 100 g) unsweetened flaked dried coconut
• 1 teaspoon flakey sea salt
• ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
• 3 tablespoons hemp seeds
• 1 sheet toasted nori, crushed
• 2 tablespoons dried nettle
• 2 teaspoons ceremonial matcha tea powder
• ¹/₃ cup (80 ml) brown rice syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Choose your pan (see below) and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper.
2. Put both types of pumpkin seeds in a large strainer and rinse well under cold running water, then drain and set over a bowl to drain thoroughly while the oven heats.
3. Line a rimmed baking sheet with parchment paper and spread out the seeds. Toast pumpkin seeds for 15 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and sprinkle the coconut over top. Return to the oven for another 8 minutes, or until the coconut is lightly browning and the seeds are toasted. Transfer to a bowl, add the fine and flakey salt, and mix well. Transfer 2 cups of the mixture to a food processor and process, scraping the sides as necessary, until the mixture is smooth and liquid; set aside.
4. Add hemp seeds, nori, nettle and matcha tea to the remaining toasted seed and coconut and toss well to combine; set aside.
5. Bring rice syrup to a simmer in a small pot over medium heat. Stir in the vanilla and remove from the heat. Add the ground seed mixture to the syrup mixture and stir until smooth. Pour into the bowl with the remaining toasted seed and coconut mixture and stir until thoroughly combined; you may need to use your hands to do this. Using clean, damp hands, press the mixture firmly and evenly into the parchment-lined pan.
6. Put the bars in the fridge for 1 hour or in the freezer for 30 minutes, or until thoroughly chilled and set. Cut into wedges, slices, or squares, depending on the pan, and store in an airtight container at cool room temperature for up to 4 weeks; in warmer weather, store in the fridge.  The bars can be frozen for up to 3 months.

Choosing Your Pan
You can use almost any pan you have on hand for these bars. Here are the pans I like to use and the yields they will give you:

• 8-inch (20 cm) round cake pan: twenty 1-inch (2.5 cm) wedges
• 8-inch (20 cm) square cake pan: sixteen 1¾-inch (4.5 cm) squares
• 5 x 9½-inch (13 x 24 cm) loaf pan: eighteen ½-inch (1.25 cm) slices
• 13 x 4-inch (33 x 10 cm) rectangular tart pan: eighteen 1½-inch (3.75 cm) wedges

The recipe is from Whole Food Cooking Every Day by Amy Chaplin (Artisan Books). Copyright © 2019.

Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/