bare fruit trail mix & giveaway.

let’s talk about dried fruit.

one of the things i hate about dried fruit is all the added sugar. what is the point of adding sugar to an already sweet thing? any time i pick up a bag of dried fruit at the store, i immediately turn it over and look at the ingredient list on the back to see the inevitable ingredient: sugar. or corn syrup. or some other type of sweetener. i shake my head every time as i put the bag back on the shelf. i just don’t see the reason for the added sugar.

bare fruit healthy snacks recently sent me a big bag of their organic bake-dried cinnamon apple chips. of course the first thing i did when receiving the bag was turn it around to see what the ingredients were. wanna know how much sugar they added to the apples?

none. zero. zip. zilch.

thank you, bare fruit. for real.. THANK YOU.

have you guys tried these bake-dried snacks? they are pretty amazing. they aren’t your typical chewy dried apples that are found in the bulk bins. bare fruit’s bake-dried method really delivers the best of both worlds: crunchy AND chewy. this unique method gives the chips a crispiness so when you first bite into a chip, it actually is crunchy like a potato chip. after the initial crispy crunch, the chip then melts away into a chewy texture.

another awesome thing about the chips? they are 100% organic. they are produced according to strict USDA guidelines and are never made using synthetic fertilizers, pesticides, herbicides, or antibiotics. i will be the first to admit that not all of the produce i buy is organic, but i always make sure my apples are organic. if i am eating the skin of the fruit or vegetable, i will always opt for organic. i love the skin of the apple and was happy to see that it was left on these cinnamon apple chips.

each serving of apple chips contains 2 grams of fiber–i am betting most of that fiber is in the dried apple skin. studies show that 75% of an apple’s fiber is in the skin.

while these crispy, chewy, cinnamony, sweet apple chips are great to eat straight up, i wanted to get a little creative and make something fun with the bag. i mean, this huge bag contains THIRTY apples.. i might as well make good use of it, right? right.

remember how we had ten 16 ounce bags of trader joe’s tempting trail mix?

well.. that trail mix is long gone. and there is not a trader joe’s in sight.

my solution? i decided to get creative in the kitchen and make my own trail mix using the bare fruit apple chips. this was actually a lot of fun!

makes 6-7 cups of trail mix
[pinit]
ingredients:

for the trail mix:

• 3 cups bare fruit cinnamon apple chips
• 1 cup cinnamon roasted almonds (recipe follows)
• 1 cup bare fruit dried cherries (you can sub in any other type of dried fruit)
• 1/3 cup each of peanut butter chips, dark chocolate chips, white chocolate chips (you can sub in any combo of chips totaling one cup)
• 2 t ground cinnamon

for the cinnamon roasted almonds:
(recipe from two peas and their pod)

• 1 cup whole raw almonds
• 1 1/2 T liquid egg whites
• 1/2 t water
• 1 1/2 T brown sugar
• 1 1/2 T evaporated cane juice
• 2 t ground cinnamon

directions:

first things first: you need to roast the almonds. you can always buy pre-roasted cinnamon almonds, but making them yourself is so easy. it just takes about an hour, so plan accordingly.

1. preheat oven to 250 degrees.
2. pour almonds in a bowl.
3. whisk together egg whites and water.
4. pour egg wash over almonds and stir to coat.
5. combine sugars and cinnamon in a bowl.
6. pour cinnamon sugar mixture over almonds.
7. stir to coat.
8. place almonds on a baking sheet lined with a silpat mat, cooking spray, or parchment paper.
9. place sheet in oven for one hour, stirring almonds every 20 minutes.
10. let cool before using.

once your almonds are cool, you can assemble your trail mix. this is really simple!

1. measure out all your ingredients.
2. place ingredients in a big bowl or ziploc bag.
3. stir or shake so the cinnamon is distributed throughout.
4. eat immediately and store extra trail mix in an airtight container.
5. for portion control, you could measure out the trail mix into single-serving baggies.

step-by-step photo tutorial:

for the almonds…

preheat oven to 250 degrees. pour almonds in a bowl. whisk together egg whites and water.

pour egg wash over almonds and stir to coat.

combine sugars and cinnamon in a bowl.

pour cinnamon sugar mixture over almonds.

stir to coat.

place almonds on a baking sheet lined with a silpat mat, cooking spray, or parchment paper.

place sheet in oven for one hour, stirring almonds every 20 minutes. let cool before using.

trail mix time!

measure out all your ingredients.

+ the ground cinnamon.

place ingredients in a big bowl or ziploc bag.

stir or shake so the cinnamon is distributed throughout.

eat immediately and store extra trail mix in an airtight container.

for portion control, you could measure out the trail mix into single-serving baggies.

i have a feeling this trail mix won’t last long. marshall has an addiction. hey, at least it’s not crack!

the folks at bare fruit snacks are kind and generous and want to spread the healthy snack love to one of you.

now’s your chance to win a bag of the cinnamon apple chips, fuji apple chips, granny smith, dried pears, dried cherries, or dried mangos. winner’s choice!

i will select a random comment from this post on friday, april 20th. SEE BELOW FOR A SECOND ENTRY OPTION.

bare fruit is a proud sponsor of USA water polo and they are currently holding a sweepstakes where someone will win a trip to the summer olympic games!

to enter, head over to the bare fruit facebook page and throw your name in the hat.

if you enter the USA olympics sweepstakes, you will get an additional entry for this giveaway. just leave a second comment below stating that you entered. again, click here for the sweepstakes!

thanks to bare fruit for all the fun chances to win cool things.. but double thanks for making a dried fruit that has no added sugar. seriously. thank you.

good luck, guys!

xo. janetha g.

*per FTC requirements: bare fruit provided product and compensation for giveaway post. all opinions are my own and i am not affiliated with bare fruit.