Fruit & Nuts Cookie Bars – An Easy Dessert and a Perfect Festive Sweet Recipe
Celebrations never end in India, just when I thought that the hectic months of festivals are over, Diwali is round the corner. Time to indulge in sweets and savories again. I love to make sweets which are easy to prepare without compromising on good taste, my time & of course health. And I am planning to bake cookies or goodies which are light on sugar and oil instead of making those time consuming traditional Indian sweets this festive season.
I made some changes to the recipe I browsed online to suit my taste, I skipped the sugar for the cookie base as I felt it would be too sweet for us with condensed milk in the topping. I added dried fruits and reduced the quantity of condensed milk, butter, coconut and the chocolate chips used in the recipe to make it more healthy for my kids.
Rest assured the Fruit & Nuts Cookie bar recipe is to treasure and I will be making & packing the same to my friends & relatives this Diwali…make sure to keep in touch and do remain in my friend’s list 🙂
Ingredients;
(makes 12 medium size pieces)
- 1 cup finely ground cookies
- 1 tbsp. butter/oil
- 1-2 tsp milk
- 1/4 cup nuts (cashew/almond/walnuts)
- 1/4 cup dried fruits (raisins/black current/dates)
- 1 tbsp. chocolate sprinklers/chips
- 2 tbsp. condensed milk (milkmaid)
- 1 tbsp. desiccated coconut
Method; I used a mix of Marie biscuits and McVities digestive biscuits for the one cup of ground cookies. Crush the biscuits in a mixer and take out the ground powder in a large vessel. Add 1 tbsp. butter or oil in the cookie powder and mix well. At this point you can add about 1 tsp or more of milk to bind the powder into a loose dough. Do not add too much milk, keep the dough crumbly. j
Coarsely crush the nuts and chop the dried fruits into small pieces.
Line a rectangular baking tin with a butter paper in such a way that it does not form any folds in the tin. Add the cookie mix and lightly press it with the back of a spoon. Bake this for about 10 minutes at 200°C.
Take out the baking tin from the oven and let it cool completely.
Pour the condensed milk over the cooled cookie crust evenly, avoid covering the sides of the tin with condensed milk. Spread a layer of crushed nuts and dried fruits over the condensed milk. Sprinkle chocolate sprinklers and coconut evenly over it. ll
Bake it for about 12-15 minutes at 200°C till the coconut is lightly roasted and turns golden brown in color. Take out from the oven and cool it completely before slicing it. For better results keep it refrigerated till use. ll
You need to resist the temptation to slice the bars, as the slices will not come even. I could not control myself…forgot, I need to photograph it too 🙂
I am totally sold out to the whole idea of making these bars with cookies and just a few ingredients, so easy and fuss free sweets. This is much healthier option than the traditional fudges we make during our festivals loaded with tons of sugar and floating in oil. Try the recipe and am sure you would like it too.
Notes;
- Spread a thin layer of condensed milk if you like less sweet.
- I felt the condensed milk too sweet for us, might think of adding unsweetened cocoa powder into it and then baking the same next time.
- These Fruit & Nuts Cookie Bars are so easy to make and you can also refrigerate the whole batch for later use.
- Perfect dessert for someone looking out for low cal and healthy eats.
How wonderful Sanjeeta! Love your healthy take on all the recipes. These sound super delicious.
Such an interesting recipe! I feel like the possibilities are endless with this! Will definetly try it sometime soon 🙂
This is so delicious ….such tempting pics ……
Nice recipe,wish I could have a goodie bag 🙂
bookmarking this wonderful delicacy sanjeetha. amazing combo of ingredients
Reminds me a little of the Bounty candy bar, great find!
wow really tempting cookies,wonderful combo…yummy!
Delicious bars made with my favorite ingredients 🙂 YUM!
These look great! Yum!
looks great and seems easy to assemble. Will try this sometime.
Bookmarked rightaway… lovely recipe!!
Marvellous bars, seriously feel like munching some..
Very easy to assemble and tempting flavors !!
We used to make coffee flavored bars with biscuit crumbs (without baking) when we were kids 🙂
This one looks as if you have done a lot of work to make it 🙂
It looks so delicious. My family will definite love this bar 🙂
The cookie bars looks so luscious and tempting. I will have to try this one soon. 🙂
Cookie bars look simply heavenly. Wonderfully prepared.
Deepa
Hamaree Rasoi
I love using sweetened condensed milk in recipes. This one is a keeper!
This looks like a great recipe. It is fun cooking with you in the SRC. Hope you are having a great day and thanks for sharing!
Miz Helen
What a wonderful adaptation of our chocolate coconut bars! This version looks delicious. Your pictures are very nice. I love that you added dried fruit!
very different recipe. looks scrumptious.
You sound a lot like me of not wanting it too sweet. I do the same thing if I use sweetened condensed milk I don’t use sugar. These bars look fantastic…the hardest part…the waiting to cool! 🙂
These beautiful bars look really delicious! They’re definitely perfect treat for any celebration!
Perfect for those hunger pangs ~ guilt free indulgence!
Looks very tasty and oh-so-easy!
If you haven’t already, I’d love for you to check out my group “A” SRC recipe this month: Welsh Cakes.
Lisa~~
Cook Lisa Cook
loved it totally Sanjeetha !! will make this soon !!
and btw, its a perfect entry for my ongoing event on Global Foods.. Do check it out !
Cheers
Kalyani
Join me in a 100-day Global Food Festival here
wow…even i can cook/bake/make it even in absence of my wife…its amagingly sweet n yummy temptation.
yu gr8 sanju…
That recipe looks like it’s ready for the holiday cookie/square exchange. Wow. Just excellent.
Looks absolutly delicious !!
As much as I like eating cookies, I don’t really like making them, so the fact that these are in bar form make them even more appetizing.
I’m new to the SRC this month. I hope you’ll stop by for a visit.
🙂
ButterYum
Looksing yumm..
They certainly do look like they would melt in your mouth – delicious!
Delicious treats! Visiting from SRC.
I don’t think I’ve never said no to a dessert like this! YUM!
These look so dense and delicious! The perfect mix of fruity and sweet.
I like the changes you made to this recipe. It looks delicious!
Yum! Looks great – I’m loving SRC — so many new recipes to try!
Sanjeeta, these bars look awesome, love all the layers…yummie the condensed milk in between.
Hope you are having a fantastic week 🙂
This looks great — love all that fruit 🙂
The bars look delicious! I know my hubby would love them. Your friends and relatives are very lucky! 🙂
Love these recipe and your blog but I already told you like million times:) You really raise health awareness!! 🙂 Happy early Diwali! 🙂
@Shulie, won’t mind another million 🙂 …keeps the fire burning! Thanks sweetheart for all your love and support, glad to have a wonderful friend in you.
Easy, nutty, chocolaty and delicious! Who wants more on a bar?
Outstanding sweet pictures 🙂
Cheers,
Gera
Mmm…these look delicious Sanjeeta. I know my kids would love them with those chocolate sprinkles on top! And, I could easily make them gluten-free with gluten-free cookies for me 🙂 Happy Diwali!
These look fabulous. Great combination of flavors!
Those chocolate coconut bars look phenomenal!
What a delicious treat…they look amazing, as I am sure they are 🙂
[…] Check out the recipe for Fruit & Nuts Cookie Bars. […]
Hi, I made these bars last week, and they turned out beautifully. I had to use a lot of milk to bind the crushed biscuits, which I did happily, since it did not involve using butter. In the process of baking, I made a serendipitous discovery – the base would work wonderfully for cheesecakes, and other cold pies. Since digestive biscuits are rich in themselves, there’s no sense adding more butter to bind; milk does the work just fine without compromising on the taste. Just wanted to let you know …
@Jyothi, Glad that you baked and liked the bars. And thanks for such valuable suggestions.
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