Sesame Seed Bar

Why hello! I decided I had enough with *wanting* to do a food blog. I'm going to just *do* it. I started baking a few months ago although I've dabbled with it by assisting my mom in the kitchen when I was growing up. My obsession with baking all started when a good friend gave me a copy of Martha Stewart's Baking Handbook (more about the book later). 

This first official post is going to be about my original recipe! Er. Well, not entirely. It's my recreation of a bar that Hawthorne Valley Farm sells at the Union Square Market. I discovered it one day when I was ravenously hungry, but didn't want to entirely ruin my appetite for dinner. It was placed unassumingly on top of their display case that housed a wide range of baked goodies of all kinds... that I was determined not to consume. 

I'm not sure what they call it, but I'm calling it the Sesame Seed Bar. The first one I had was moist and chewy if a bit crumbly (I do not mind). The second time I had it, it was hard and crunchy. I'm not sure which was more 'true' to it's kind but it was delicious either way and I had to recreate it in my own kitchen. Luckily, the ingredients were listed write on the wrapper! Score! So with a little tweaking of the ingredients, I decided to give it a go. I will tell you that the outcome of this attempted recreation was a huge, huuuuge success. I have to say, it is remarkably similar to the bar that I had that day, and I will definitely be making this again. It came out more crunchy than crumbly so next time I may take it out of the oven a couple of minutes sooner. I'll also increase the shredded coconut so that it's flavor is more pronounced. I've done so already below (increased from 1 cup to 1 1/2).

Sesame Seed Bar (inspired by Hawthorne Valley Farm)

wet ingredients:
1/4 cup of tahini
1/3 cup of agave nectar (or more if you want it sweeter. The original has honey in it, but I wanted to use agave)
1/4 tsp cinnamon 1/2 tsp of sea salt (I like my sea salt to be loud and present. If you want yours to be more subtle, scale back. 1/4 tsp is probably good).

seed ingredients:
1 1/2 cup of sesame seeds 1 cup of raw cashew pieces
1/2 cup of sunflower seeds
1 1/2 cup of fine coconut shreds (not sweetened)

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees
2. Combine seed mixture and lay out on a sheet pan. Toast in oven for 5-8 mins until slightly golden. Let the mixture cool a bit (I think 5-10 minutes is enough).
3. Combine wet mixture in a big mixing bowl until evenly mixed.
4. Once the seed mixture has cooled, toss in a bowl, combine with the wet mixture until evenly mixed.
5. In a 9x9 pan*, pour in the mixture and press it down into the pan firmly creating a nice even layer. Bake in oven for 20-25 minutes until golden, rotating the pan after 10 minutes. 6. The batter will harden and solidify as is cools. Cut into desired size once cooled with a sharp knife.

* I actually re-used the same cookie sheet out of laziness but kept the mixture tightly packed to one side of the pan. It probably filled 1/4 of the sheet pan and left the rest empty. Make sure the mixture is tightly packed so it solidifies nicely.

Storing: I'm not sure how long these would keep. I'm guessing at least a week in an airtight container and longer if they're refrigerated. I like to take the guess work out by wrapping them in three's with plastic wrap and freezing them. That way I can take them out three servings at a time and nibble away at them at my leisure.