Tart Cherry Bites

I’d been thinking for some time about the kind of snacks I wanted for my Spirited Women Adventure Race and to be honest I couldn’t think much past the scroggin mix I’d been taking on most of our big training days — macadamia nuts and dried tart cherries with some lime zest mixed through (some days I’d pop in a little dark chocolate for a treat!). The only issue was it would take too long to eat on race day so I really wanted it compressed into squares, and then maybe with a little candied lime on the top for a bit of chew … oh my, there’s no going back to scroggin mix now!

MAKES 12

Ingredients

1 1/4 cups macadmia nuts
150g dried tart cherries
zest of 1-2 limes (depending on how zesty you want them)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 tablespoons cocoa butter, melted (40g)
pinch of flakey salt

topping

1 lime
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Method

Line a loaf tin or similar sized dish with baking paper.

Put all the main ingredients in to a food processor and blend until crumbly. Pour the mixture into the tin and press it down firmly with the back of a spoon. Pop it into the freezer while you make the topping.

For the topping, slice the lime as thin as you possibly can (use a mandolin if you have one) — you’ll need 12 slices. Place the lime slices in to a fry pan so they don’t overlap. Drizzle the maple syrup over the slices and heat gently, turning the slices over to coat both sides. When the syrup has soaked into the lime pieces and they have turned sticky, turn the heat off.

Lift the slice out of the tin using the baking paper and cut into 12 squares. Place a lime slice on each piece and press down a bit so it sticks. Store in the fridge.

Share with others, preferably on the mountain bike trails ;-)