Banana Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix Clusters

Today’s delight is Banana Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix Clusters. Sounds like a delicious mouthful, no? This recipe provides a wonderful raw food snack to have on hand, keeping your hands reaching for something healthy when the craving hits. They are a mixture of chewy from the dried fruit base to crunch from the nuts and seeds.

I enjoy mixes like this topped over banana and almond milk for breakfast, while hiking, or at a movie theater. You get the idea. 😉

This recipe makes about 2 excalibur dehydrator trays worth and there’s no need for a teflex sheet as it can be clumped or spread out on the included mesh sheet. Once dried break into desired sized clusters over a bowl and store in a sealed container. This can be stored on the counter or in the fridge. If you’re counter storing just make sure it’s dry. We go through a batch like this in 2 weeks or less.

They kind of remind me of a banana split! Speaking of they would be perfect crumbled over a little banana soft serve.

Using sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds save money over an all nut trail mix and offers different nutritional benefits. I bet hemp seeds would be great in this too!

Banana Chocolate Cherry Trail Mix Clusters

Ingredients

2 1/4 cups almonds, soaked for 6-8 hours then drained/rinsed, allow them to drain dry
1 cup sunflower seeds
1 cup pumpkin seeds
1/2 cup hulled sesame seeds
1 cup dried cherries
1 cup pitted medjool dates (about 7)
2 ripe bananas, peeled
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla bean powder (or 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract)
2 tablespoons maple syrup
2 tablespoons Navitas Naturals raw cacao (or baking cocoa/carob powder)

Instructions

To a large bowl add almonds, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds, sesame seeds, and cherries. Set aside.
Process (in a food processor fitted with the s-blade) or blend the dates, bananas, sea salt, vanilla bean powder, maple syrup, and cacao until smoothish like pudding. Add to the nut/seeds and mix well to coat.
Spread or 'clump' over 2 dehydrator trays fitted with mesh sheets and dehydrate 24-36 hours at 105F. When done, break into clusters over a bowl and transfer to sealed containers for storing.

Notes

Feel free to add more cacao if you want a richer dark chocolatey treat, using bananas in the base lends to a stronger taste when dried.

All seeds and nuts can be soaked, I only happened to do the almonds. Make sure you drain dry as much of the water as possible. I've noticed through many different mixtures I've made that dry nuts hold the flavor of the batter better than wet nuts/seeds that seem to dilute the flavor.

https://feedyourskull.com/2012/11/10/banana-chocolate-cherry-trail-mix-clusters/