Do you enjoy the Organic Aussie Bites purchased at Costco? We do. They seem pretty healthy.
They are a little too sweet to me though. There are several forms of sugar in them: sugar, cane sugar, invert sugar and honey (not including the sugar from the dried fruit). At 130 calories for one bite, that seems a little steep. They have 16 carbs and 8 grams of sugar. They also contain butter but some of my family is dairy free.
Can we improve upon this? I strayed from the original a bit. My final recipe had roughly 95 calories for one, with 12 carbs and 5 grams of sugar. No dairy.
I put my own spin on it. You can change it up to fit your tastes as well. The original bites used dried apricots and raisins. I’ve made them using dried cranberries instead of raisins and instead of apricots I have used figs and dates. It changes the flavor some. I enjoyed both.
I imagine you can use any dried fruit that you like — 3/4 cups in total. How about dried blueberries, cherries or apples? The combinations are endless.
I also added pumpkin seeds – because I like pumpkin seeds. How about hemp hearts?
I changed the canola oil and butter because canola oil isn’t healthy and we are avoiding dairy. Instead, I used avocado oil/coconut oil (melted) and unsweetened applesauce. Ghee would also work.
Play with it until you create your favorite version.
Aussie Bites - Make Your Own
Ingredients
- 1 cup gluten-free rolled oats
- 1/2 cup cooked quinoa
- 1/2 cup shredded unsweetened coconut
- 1/4 cup raw organic sunflower seeds
- 1/4 cup raw, shelled organic pumpkin seeds
- 1/4 cup ground flaxseed
- 2T chia seeds
- 1/4 cup honey (or real maple syrup)
- 1/2 t vanilla
- 1/4 t sea salt
- 2 T avocado oil (or coconut oil melted)
- 2 T unsweetened organic applesauce
- 1/2 cup organic dried apricots
- 1/4 cup organic dried cranberries
Directions
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
- Lightly grease a mini muffin pan. I gave a quick spray with my mister.
- In a food processor, chop the dried fruit into smaller pieces.
- Add the dry ingredients to the processor and pour the liquid ingredients over top to avoid it settling on the bottom.
- Mix ingredients until well blended. (The longer you blend the finer the ingredients will be so if you want the pieces chunkier you may just want to give it a few final stirs by hand at the end to make sure it is well blended.
- Press down into mini muffins cups. It should fill 24 cups.
- Bake 10-12 minutes.
- Let cool before removing, otherwise it may be crumbly.
- These freeze well.
Peppers and Planks 