These mini cashew raspberry oat bars are the perfect healthy treat. Not only are they are a great after-school treat for hungry kids as they’re sweetened with fruit alone, they are also vegan and gluten free. No baking is needed making them perfect for a hot summer’s day.
Cooking with raspberries
A couple of weeks ago I spent a delightful evening at the stunning Bourne & Hollingsworth Buildings learning about cooking with raspberries with chef Adam Gray. It was one of those rare summer evenings (this year anyway) when the sun was shining and the air was warm. I’d taken a coat and regretted it as I didn’t need it and had to carry it all the way back home.
And what better way to enjoy a summer’s evening than cooking with, and eating, delicious summer raspberries. I love evenings like this and it was very welcome to have a break from putting the kids to bed to learn about Berry World raspberries and to taste, and cook, some lovely raspberry recipes with a great chef.
We started off with an Eton Collins cocktail – inspired by the Eton Mess dessert – made with gin, raspberry syrup, lemon juice, balsamic vinegar, sugar and soda. This is a seriously delicious cocktail. I don’t usually choose fruit-based cocktails as I find them too sweet but I loved this one.
What raspberry dishes did we try?
We then watched Adam do a demo of how to make a soft lemon meringue with raspberry salad before we got cracking with cooking our mini raspberry and almond tartlets with custard. I proved, once again, that I am completely incapable of following instructions and nearly ruined my frangipane filling by adding the eggs too quickly. Luckily, when you have a Michelin-starred chef on hand they usually know how to save the day. All was not lost and the pudding recovered!
Berry World raspberries
The event was hosted by Berry World. The company grow berries in the UK and Europe and one of their top products has to be the incredible Jewel raspberries. They are larger and sweeter than your average raspberry and, honestly, they are totally delicious. We were given three punnets to take home and my kids (with the exception of fruit-hating R of course) ate the lot in a day. For more ideas of how to cook with berries visit the Berry World site.
Mini cashew raspberry oat bars
I decided to make a healthy raspberry-based snack for the kids to enjoy to show you an alternative way of using raspberries.
These little bars are dairy free, vegan and free from refined sugar. As long as you have a food processor you will find this recipe really simple. It’s perfect for a hot summer’s day as you don’t even need to turn the oven on.
If you’re making these in winter then you can use frozen raspberries. You may need to add a little milk (I used oat milk) to loosen the mixture up.
You can cut them into hearts for Valentine’s Day, or cut them into squares.
More oat bars recipes
Beetroot and poppy seed oat bars
How to make these cashew raspberry oat bars
Mini cashew raspberry oat bars
Ingredients
- 150 g oats
- 50 g cashew nuts
- 50 g desiccated coconut
- 200 g raspberries
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Instructions
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Put the dry ingredients into the food processor and pulse until you have a fine powder. Add the raspberries and vanilla extract and continue pulsing until well combined.
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Scrape everything out into a 20cm square cake tin lined with greaseproof paper. Freeze for an hour to allow to set. Remove from the freezer, cut into squares or bars, and store in the fridge.
Pin mini cashew raspberry oat bars for later
Disclaimer: this is a collaborative post with Berry World. All opinions are honest and my own.
Eb Gargano
July 5, 2016 at 9:59 amOooh these look gorgeous. Loving the sound of that Eton Collins too – can we have a recipe for that soon? 🙂 Shame you didn’t get to take the Michelin Starred Chef home too – how useful would that be 😉 Eb x
Mandy Mazliah
July 5, 2016 at 8:56 pmIt would save me from a lot of kitchen disasters if I had a chef at home! Have emailed you the cocktail recipe, can’t really put it on the blog…
Hayley
July 5, 2016 at 7:56 pmOoo these are perfect, I’m trying not to eat sugar at the moment so these would be a great snack 🙂 Thanks for linking to #CookBlogShare
Mandy Mazliah
July 5, 2016 at 8:54 pmOnce your taste buds get used to not having refined sugar snacks like these are perfectly sweet enough!
Midgie
July 6, 2016 at 4:37 pmThe Peachicks LOVE raspberries, definitely going to try these! Well if I can ever keep a punnet around long enough!!
Mandy Mazliah
July 9, 2016 at 5:20 amThat’s the problem isn’t it! You’ll have to buy an extra one X
Angela / Only Crumbs Remain
July 8, 2016 at 12:02 pmI love how easy these are to rustle up Mandy, and I can imagine they taste amazing with those fabulous raspberries. Angela x
Mandy Mazliah
July 9, 2016 at 5:21 amThey are really good – love the British raspberries at the moment X
Kirsty Hijacked By Twins
July 11, 2016 at 1:19 pmLOVE them!!! We have got so many raspberries in the garden so this is a must try! Thank you for sharing with #CookBlogShare x
Mandy Mazliah
July 13, 2016 at 8:47 pmLet me know what you think! X
Emma Edwards
December 31, 2016 at 10:45 amCan these be made using frozen raspberries, or will that mess up the recipe?
Mandy Mazliah
December 31, 2016 at 12:52 pmHi Emma, I would start with half of the raspberries and see how it goes as they can make things a bit wet. I’ll try and test it out this week and let you know! Thanks, Mandy
Mandy Mazliah
January 4, 2017 at 9:32 amHi again Emma, I have done a test of this recipe for you – I put the raspberries in frozen and rather than being too wet it turned out too dry. I added four tablespoons of oat milk and they’ve turned out perfectly. Let me know if you try them!