Trying Something New

Do you ever try a food and just love it and wish you could make it at home so you have it all the time??  Well, I've decided that I really like  KIND BARS.  They have a lot of different bars and all the ones that I have tried have been delicious!  The other day, I decided that I would try to make some KIND BARS.  I walked around the grocery store and carefully thought of the items that I thought should go into my Kind Bars.  I went down several isles more than once!  Here are items I thought should go into my Kind Bars.

As you see, I thought a lot about a variety of items. 

I used most of the items pictured for my bars.

  Some of my ingredients were what I had at home

 and some I bought for the recipe attempt.

  Some ingredients were organic and some were not.

I used some very tasty roasted almonds- without any salt. 

I roughly chopped the almonds. 

I had to do them in about four little "batches" because

they moved around on the cutting board when I chopped them. 

I chopped up some dried apricots, too.

They didn't hop around on my cutting board ;0) 

I  mixed the apricots in with a little water and some fruit pectin and then

heated it up in the microwave for about a minute.

Then, I started adding  the other dried fruit (cranberries, blueberries and cherries), granola, sesame seeds, honey, flax seed and pepitas.

I mixed it all up. 

Doesn't it look yummy?

Then I gently folded in the unsweeted coconut shreds.

I then spread it into a lightly greased 8 x 8 pan.

After I spread the mixture into the pan, I covered it with waxed paper.

Then, I placed another 8 x 8 pan on top of the pan and the waxed paper.

I then pressed the pan.

 I made sure I pressed all the edges, corners and in the center.

 I pressed it kinda hard.

Doesn't it look great? 

 Doesn't it look nice and smooth? 

Doesn't it look delicious?

I brushed the top with a little bit of apricot fruit spread and a little bit of pectin and a tiny bit of water.  I heated this up for about a minute and then covered the surface.  Then, I decided to lightly bake my bars.

  I baked them for ten minutes in a 325 oven and then I let them cool for a while. 

 My Kind Bars taste great. 

The almonds have stayed crisp- even three days later! 

 I thought they might get soggy, but they haven't. 

They are a little bit crumbly on the bottom...but not too bad.

 I cut my bars a little bigger than the real KIND BARS. 

My bars were also a little bit thicker than the real thing.

I think the whole experiment was a success!