2 sweet snack recipes: mixed nut bars and Austrian almond cookies

Go nutty with these two recipes that feature mixed nuts and almonds.

Here's a way to take that can of mixed nuts in your cupboard to new heights of flavour. Mix them with melted butterscotch chips and bake them on a sweet pastry crust. These addictive salty-sweet bars will become your new favourite afternoon snack!

Prep time 15 min

Cook time 25 min

Makes 3 1/2 dozen

Crust

• 200 g (1 1/2 c) all-purpose flour
• 165 g (3/4 c) firmly packed brown sugar
• 1 g (1/4 tsp) salt
• 115 g (1/2 c/1 stick) cold unsalted butter or margarineTopping
• 1 can (300 g/11 1/2 oz) mixed nuts
• 175 g (1 c) butterscotch chips
• 125 ml (1/2 c) light corn syrup
• 30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter or margarine

1. Preheat the oven to 180°C (350°F).
2. For the crust, combine the flour, brown sugar and salt in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter or margarine until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Press into a greased  23 x 35-centimetre (nine x 13-inch) baking pan and bake for 10 minutes.
4. For topping, sprinkle the baked crust with the nuts. Melt the butterscotch chips in a small microwavable bowl on medium power for three minutes, stopping to stir every minute. Add the corn syrup and butter or margarine and mix well. Pour over the nuts.
5. Bake for 10 minutes longer. Cool.

• Use your favourite salted nuts, such as cashews, peanuts, almonds and walnuts.
• If you can, avoid mixes that include very large nuts such as Brazil nuts.
• These are harder to cut into bars once baked into this dessert.

These traditional sandwich cookies feature chopped almonds in the dough and slivered almonds on top of the cookie to create an extra nutty taste. Raspberry jam makes a super simple filling for sandwiching between the cookies.

Prep time 30 min

Cook time 10 min

Makes 20

Cookies

• 130 g (1 c) all-purpose flour
• 150 ml (2/3 c) finely chopped almonds
• 65 g (1/3 c) sugar
• 115 g (1/2 c/1 stick) cold unsalted butter
• 125 ml (1/2 c) raspberry jamFrosting
• 1 square (28 g/1 oz) unsweetened chocolate
• 30 g (2 tbsp) unsalted butter or margarine
• 45 g (1/3 c) confectioners' sugar
• Slivered almonds

1. Preheat the oven to 190°C (375°F).
2. For cookies, combine the flour, almonds and sugar in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until the mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3. Form into a ball; then cover and refrigerate for one hour.
4. Remove from the refrigerator and roll the ball of dough on a floured surface to 1/4 centimetre (1/8 inch) thickness. Cut with a five-centimetre (two-inch) round cutter and place 2.5 centimetres (one inch) apart on greased baking sheets.
5. Bake until the edges are lightly browned, seven to 10 minutes. Remove to wire racks to cool completely.
6. Spread two millilitres (1/2 teaspoon) jam on half of the cookies; top each with another cookie.
7. For frosting, combine the chocolate and butter or margarine in a medium microwavable bowl. Microwave on medium until the chocolate and butter or margarine are melted, about three minutes, stopping to stir every minute.
8. Stir in the confectioners' sugar and let cool slightly. Spread on top of cookies. Decorate with the slivered almonds.

--------------------

Discover the smarter way to save time and money

Ready to start saving more on your groceries and pharmacy purchases? Download the FREE YP Grocery app today! It lets you create shareable shopping lists, automatically finds all the best deals and coupons, then delivers them right to you. No more manually scrolling through hundreds of flyers to find what you’re looking for!

Download the YP Grocery app now!