I’ve been hatching a plan to replicate a KIND bar for a long time, and I finally followed through. I did a lot of snooping on the food blogs to find a feasible recipe. After looking at a few different versions, it was clear that there was a pretty consistent formula, which was a good sign.
KIND bars were a little bit of an investment because they’re basically all nuts. Also, they are mostly specialty ingredients that I don’t usually keep in my pantry. I found ground flax seed and millet pretty easily, but I had to hunt for the brown rice syrup. Is it a sugar? Is it a syrup? Is it a honey? Is it a gluten free or ethnic food? Turns out in Harris Teeter it’s none of the above. I had to go to Whole Foods and found it in the sugar and sugar alternative section.
I will caution you, the first time I made these they were a complete and expensive fail. I did not boil the syrup and honey mixture for long enough, it didn’t thicken properly, and the bars just fell apart. I can’t remember the last time I was that mad at everything in my kitchen. Even the second time around the bars were pretty sticky, so I recommend cutting them into bite size squares and storing them in your fridge for easy snacking. The taste, nutrition, and general texture are the redeeming factors.
Copy-Cat KIND Bars
Yields 10 bars, adapted from Eat Urself Skinny
Ingredients
- ½ cup unsalted roasted almonds, chopped
- ½ cup unsalted cashews, chopped
- ½ cup roasted walnuts, chopped
- ⅓ cup puffed millet
- 1 Tbs flaxseed meal
- ¼ cup brown rice syrup
- 2 Tbs honey
- ½ tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ cup chocolate chips
Method
- Line an 8 x 8 pan with parchment paper.
- Coat a mixing bowl with non-stick spray. Combine nuts, millet, and flax in the bowl and set aside.
- Put a small pot on the stove on medium heat. Add brown rice syrup, honey, vanilla, and salt. Bring the mixture to a boil and wish constantly at a boil for two full minutes.
- Pour the liquid over the nut mixture. Mix until ingredients are evenly coated and pour into the parchment lined pan. Flatten mixture firmly into the pan with no gaps.
- Allow to cool at room temperature for 20 minutes, then turn out onto a cutting board and cut into 10 bars. Allow to cool completely.
- Melt chocolate chips in microwave (heat for 30 seconds at a time until melted). Drizzle over cooled bars.
- Store at room temp in sealed container, or skip the chocolate step and store in refrigerator (the chocolate might turn white in the fridge).
Sadie Dishes 