Apple Chocolate Nut Crunch Trail Mix

11 Sep Apple Chocolate Nut Crunch Trail Mix

I’m obsessed with this trail mix.  It’s perfectly sweet, satisfying and ideal for kids or when you’re on the run!  Think crunchy pecans and seeds baked with maple syrup and cinnamon, then tossed with crisp cinnamon apple chips and rich chocolate!!

Most trail mixes are all sugar and fat. So I packed this trail mix with as much complete muscle building protein as I could in the form of hemp seeds and chia seeds (it also contains incomplete protein from the nuts.) I also only added two tablespoons of all natural pure maple syrup and used UNreal chocolate, a gluten free all natural candy!  Does it have as much protein as say one of my other recipes?  No- because it’s trail mix and it would be disgusting if it contained chicken (ha!) But it still works in my book- it is delicious, gluten free, all-natural and will keep you energized on the run! You can even stir it Greek yogurt if you’d like.  PS.  You’ll notice two amazing products in the ingredient list- BARE Baked Organic Apple Chips and 100% UNREAL Candy Coated Milk Chocolate!  These are two of the newest products that I’m adding soon to my Shopping List. If you’re searching for ways to stock your kitchen with clean, all natural and delicious food, get my list here!

Apple Chocolate Nut Crunch Trail Mix

Makes almost 4  cups = 6 to 8 servings depending on how hungry you are!

INGREDIENTS

• 2 cups of your favorite nuts RAW (I used pecans and cashews)
• ¼ cup hemp seeds (find them in the health section at your local market or health food store)
• 2 tablespoons chia seeds
• 2 tablespoons coconut oil or real butter, melted
• 2 tablespoons pure maple syrup
• ½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract (not imitation and if you’re gluten free make sure it says it on the label)
• ¼ heaping teaspoon plus two pinches cinnamon
• Pinch sea salt
• 1 bag BARE Organic Apple Cinnamon Chips
• ½ cup UNREAL Candy Coated Milk Chocolates and/or Candy Coated Milk Chocolate Nuts

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Arrange oven rack so it’s second from the top of the oven.  Then preheat oven to LOW broil. Cover a sheet pan with tinfoil and set aside.
2. Combine nuts, hemp seeds and chia seeds in a bowl. In a separate small bowl, whisk together the melted coconut oil or butter, pure maple syrup, pure vanilla extract, cinnamon and salt.  Pour mixture over the nuts and seeds and toss to combine.
3. Spread the coated nut mixture onto the sheet pan in an even layer.  Broil for 3 minutes.  Remove sheet pan from the oven and stir the mixture, making sure to scoop up the seeds and sort of fold them onto the nuts.  Place sheet pan back into the oven and broil for another 2 minutes, making sure to keep an eye on the nuts so they don’t burn (remove them sooner if they are starting to get dark.)
4. Remove sheet pan from the oven.  Before the mixture cools, stir again, making sure to scoop more of the seeds up and onto the nuts.  Let nuts cool completely.  Toss with apple chips and chocolate. Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 4 days.  Enjoy!

SO, WHAT’S THE NUTRITION BALANCE?

I did my best to get as much protein as I could into this trail mix while keeping it delicious! It’s going to naturally be lower in protein (I mean it is trail mix) but I’ve used it several times on the go for a mini snack and it seems to keep my blood sugar stable.   And it’s honestly perfect for kids.  To make it even cleaner, you can always skip the chocolate.