We usually buy All Bran buds and flakes at our house. It's what my husband has for breakfast most of the days. Me not so much especially that I'm on a hypoallergenic diet for the past couple of days. It so happens that however you try to store the flakes cereal carefully, you end up having a lot of crumbs which nobody wants in their bowl of cereal.
So I started putting the "end-of-the-pack" crumbs in a container and by the end of the month I had so much of it and was looking for ways to use it up. I have already baked some double chocolate muffins and these vegan blueberry bran muffins. This time I didn't have time to bake for the kids' get-together, so I wanted to make something pretty quickly and also wanted to incorporate the cereal crumbs into the recipe.
That's when I remembered seeing some no-bake cookie recipes in the 1500 Best Bars, Cookies, Muffins, Cakes and more by Esther Brody. I tried the recipe as it is for measurement sake but substituted dried fruits and nuts to use what I had. The no-bake cookies turned out great and was a hit with the kids as well as their parents.
Recipe
No-Bake Fruit and Nut Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 cups all-bran cereal (flakes)
- 1 cup pitted and chopped dates
- 1 cup raisins
- 1 cup dried cranberries
- 1 cup dried apricots, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup toasted and chopped pecans
- 1 cup toasted and chopped pistachios
Substitutions:
- all-bran cereal - any cereal of your choice try to avoid sugary ones though
- dried fruits - your choice
- nuts - use what you have at home even pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds
Instructions
- Process the cereal and chopped dates in a food processor, until the cereal is crumbled.
- Add raisins, dried cranberries, apricots and the nuts and process until everything is finely chopped.
- Transfer the mixture to a large bowl and shape them into balls, preferably scooping out mixture using a tablespoon so that all the cookie balls are shaped evenly.
My Notes
- The original recipe mentioned to roll the cookies in confectioner's sugar but I omitted it to cut back the sugar. You can roll it in unsweetened coconut flakes instead.
- When chopping dried fruits, grease the knife with cooking spray to make the job easier.
- You can also use some dark chocolate chips or carob chips to give it a chocolaty flavor.
Kanchan Agarwal says
wow... yum yumm... i'll try this.. 🙂
Shoba Shrinivasan says
Hi Madhuram
This one is a killer as I do the same thing too. Its forgiving as you can add any dry fruits that you have on hand and based on that it gives it a diff twist every time
Shobha
Archy says
wow.. looks so yummy!! Will try for sure, its simple and easy!!
Pooja says
This definitely looks very healthy treat. I would definitely try to make it this weekend. Do we need to put some water for binding?
Madhuram says
No additional liquids, Pooja. The stickiness of the dried fruits does the trick.
Priya says
Quite an energy bites, love it.