Raisinets Energy Bars

Ingredients

1 cup puffed rice cereal
1 cup old-fashioned oats
1/4 cup almonds
1/4 cup walnuts
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 cup sunflower seed kernels
1 cup NESTLÉ RAISINETS Dark or Milk Chocolate-Covered Raisins
3 cups pitted and roughly chopped Medjool dates
1/2 cup roughly chopped dried apricots
1/2 cup no-stir almond butter

Directions

LINE 13 x 9-inch baking pan with foil.

COMBINE puffed rice cereal and oats in a large bowl; mix and set aside.

PLACE almonds, walnuts, sunflower seed kernels and cinnamon in a food processor; process until everything is the size of bread crumbs. Pour into a medium bowl.

ADD Raisinets to food processor; process until chocolate is ground and raisins are in smaller pieces. The size of the pieces will vary and that is fine. Pour into same bowl as nut mixture; stir to combine.

PLACE dates and apricots in food processor process until mixture turns into a thick paste. Once paste forms, add almond butter; continue to process until well combined.

ADD chopped nuts and Raisinets to paste mixture. Process again until everything is well combined. Pour into bowl with puffed rice cereal and oats; stir to combine. It may be easier to do this with your hands to get the mixture evenly blended.

SPREAD mixture evenly into prepared pan. Cover with plastic wrap or wax paper; press down on mixture in pan with heavy can or bottle to further compact and smooth the mixture. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.

LIFT mixture out of the pan using the foil. Slice into 24 bars. Bars can be wrapped in wax paper and taken along for a quick and easy snack.