Homemade Lemon Poppy Seed Lärabars!

Spring is such an emotional rollercoaster. One day you're picking crocuses in the sunshine and the next morning you wake up to a winter wonderland. I think it's safe to say we've finally crossed into the gentler, greener part of spring! Honestly, what got me through it this year is kitties and lemons.  Yup.

Because on those days when we were slammed with yet another snow dump, the kitties were either cozied up by the woodstove, or meditating in the snow, taking it all in stride. And really, isn't that the best way to await spring's arrival? The kitties know.

As for lemons. If you can't have sunshine, I suppose they might be the next best thing. I'm not usually one to obsess over lemons, really. But without planning it that way, April has been the month of lemons. There was the Easter bread with candied lemon peels, and then the lemon polenta cake, and now, these lemon poppy seed bars which are blowing my mind. 

Have you ever had a Lärabar? They're a deliciously nutritious little snack with a very short ingredient list (usually a good thing in the world of packaged foods). I have been a longtime fan. But last year, they let me down big time. You see those seemingly innocent little bars of delight are owned by General Mills which donated a whopping $1.2 million to defeat Proposition 37 in California (the GMO labeling initiative). It makes me mad. Think of all the things $1.2 million could do in this world!! Instead, they wasted it on TV ads to scare Californians into believing they don't have the right to know if their food is genetically modified or not. And now that several other states are also about to vote on GMO labelling initiatives, it would be very nice if these big companies would back-off and realize that people do have a basic right to know what is in their food. So I'm boycotting Lärabar  (along with a bunch of other companies that fought against peoples' right to know in California... including Kellogg's, Coca Cola, see the full list here).

Well it turns out boycotts are pretty fun. Especially when you have to learn how to make your own delicious snacks!

 

I decided to try my hand at a lemon poppy seed bar. I was expecting deliciousness, to be sure. (How can you go wrong with dried fruit and nuts all mashed up together?) But I wasn't expecting to blow my own socks off! These bars are gooey and oozing with flavor. They are a perfect hiking, traveling, lunching, breakfast, anytime and anything snack. Trust me, and try them out. They take minutes to make. No baking. No fuss. Here's how you do it.

 

LEMON POPPY SEED SNACK BARS

2 cups raw cashews

1 cup golden raisins (these are a pale yellow colour) *

1 cup chopped dried apricots (get the brown, unsulfured kind, they are so much better!) 

 Grated rind from 2 whole organic lemons 

1 to 2 tbsp. fresh squeezed lemon juice (start with 1 tbsp, add another if the mix is not too wet)

1/3 cup poppy seeds

Put all the ingredients in the food processor, except the poppy seeds and about 1 teaspoon of the grated lemon rind. Put these aside for the topping. Process the other ingredients for a while, until the whole thing has turned into a very thick paste. You may still have small chunks of cashews depending on how strong your food processor is and that's ok, but the raisins and apricots should be well-mashed into each other. If the mix is too dry, add the second tablespoon of lemon juice, a little at a time. 

Transfer to a mixing bowl and with your hands, knead about 1/2 of the poppy seeds into the fruit and cashew paste.  In a little bowl, mix the remaining poppy seeds with the reserved teaspoon of grated lemon rind.

Line the bottom of an 8-inch square baking pan with wax paper. Press the fruit paste down into the pan evenly. Sprinkle with the poppy seed and grated lemon rind mixture. Refrigerate for about 2 hours and then slice into bars or squares. You can wrap these individually in a little wax paper if you like. They will keep in the fridge for several weeks.

*After I posted this recipe, a reader kindly informed me in the comments section that golden raisins are just regular raisins treated with sulfur dioxide to prevent them from darkening. I didn't know that and will probably want to avoid them in the future - I'm going to experiment with only apricots and also with unsulfured dried pineapple. I'm trying to stick to light colours to keep a yellowish lemony colour to the bars, although that is purely aesthetic (If anyone has other suggestions about good substitutes, I'd love to hear them, please leave a comment bellow :-)