Cashew Coconut Ginger Bars

Most of our recipes come with a story. Here’s the one behind these tasty Cashew Coconut Ginger Bars.

We did not know it until our visit to Tamil Nadu but India grows a lot of the world’s cashews. And, now that we’ve been to South India a few times, we can tell you that along with cashews, you can’t turn around without bumping into a coconut tree. The same goes for ginger. It grows wild here, there and everywhere it gets the chance.

Creamy raw cashews, slightly charred, sit in an rough stone carved bowl, which sits on the dirt ground. — Raw cashews in the roasting process at a roadside roaster somewhere between Thanjavur (Tanjore) and Madurai.

Shelled whole cashews roast over a fire positioned on the ground. — Cashews roasting over a roadside fire.

A young woman in a yellow and orange sari with a pink top is in a bent position while tossing cashews with an extended right arm into an old iron pot placed on a fire on the dirt ground. — Roadside cashew roaster at work.

A shirtless, elderly South Indian man wearing a light coloured dhoti squats on the ground with his knees near his shoulders as he waves open-palmed to the camera. Unshelled roasted cashews and a grinding stone sit at his feet. — A road trip through Southern India leads to a chance encounter with a cashew roasting man and his family.

After our chance encounter with The Cashew Man, we came back to Canada and played around with cashews, coconut and ginger until this exotic concoction evolved. As a bonus, there is no baking required.

We may never get to share these Cashew Coconut Ginger Bars with the kind man who fed us cashews on the side of the road. But, the flavour of these sweet treats do make our South Indian friends very happy. We hope you enjoy them too.

Cashew Coconut Ginger Bars Recipe

Yields
20 small bars

Prep Time
15 minutes

Cooking Time
15 minutes

Total
30 minutes

1 cup cashew butter
½ cup honey
½ cup coconut oil
2 cups granola (I use an organic Sunflower Flax Seed Granola)
½ cup chopped toasted unsalted cashews
½ cup diced candied ginger
1 – 1 ½ cups long strand shredded coconut
1 teaspoon of vanilla extract
1 cup of white chocolate chips

1. Stir the cashew butter with the honey and coconut oil over low heat in a saucepan until melted and smooth.
2. Remove from heat; stir in the granola, cashews, ginger and coconut, and then add the vanilla and white chocolate chips.
3. Press into a 7x10X2 inch glass baking dish and refrigerate until set.
4. Remove from the refrigerator a few minutes before you’d like to cut into bars to serve.
5. Enjoy this tropical treat in small squares on a “dainty” platter or cut larger portions and eat as an exotic energy bar.

Thanks for trying this facesplacesandplates.com recipe.

Cashew Coconut Ginger Bars