Trail Mix - Toasted or Roasted?

It seems when you're talking nuts, those terms - toasted and roasted - are used interchangeably.

I made some trail mix the other day, and wanted to use raw nuts and toast (roast) them myself.  Here's how I did it...

Ingredients:

2 cups raw walnuts
2 cups raw pecans
1 cup raw sunflower seeds
sea salt water (about a teaspoon of sea salt for pint jar size)
1 cup mini semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded, dried coconut
1 cup dried cranberries
2 T coconut oil
(all of these items are available at our food co-op in bulk)

Put the nuts and seeds in a jar of sea salt water and soak overnight (I did it for about 12 hours for the walnuts and pecans - times vary depending on the nut).  Soaking helps with digestibility - see this link at The Nourishing Gourmet for more on that.

Rinse and dry them, then chop roughly.  If you were going to eat them raw, it's recommended that you dry them in the oven at a VERY low temperature (150) or in a dehydrator.  Since I was toasting/roasting them, I skipped the dehydration step and just dried them really well with paper towel.

I drizzled the coconut oil (unrefined, so it has coconut flavor) on them and tossed well.  Spread the nuts and seeds in a single layer on a cookie sheet and bake at 350 for 15 minutes.

Take them out and stir, then add the shredded coconut (tossing to incorporate the residual coconut oil) and return to the oven for another 10 minutes.  These times worked for me and my oven, but you'll want to check yours from time to time.  Nuts can go from almost done to over done very quickly!

Mmmm; let your deliciously toasted walnuts, pecans, sunflower seeds, and shaved coconut bits cool to room temperature.

I threw mine in a gallon size zip-lock bag.  Then tossed in the dried cranberry and mini chips.

Shake it up and YUM!  What a wonderfully nutritious and satisfying snack!
Toasting them in the coconut oil gave them such a nice crispy/crunchy texture.



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