Fruit-and-Nut Breakfast Bars

Ingredients:
¼ cup orange juice
½ cup whole Medjool dates (about 5), halved and pitted
1 cup unblanched almonds
½ cup dried apricots
¼ cup dried plums (prunes)
¼ tsp. salt
¼ cup raw pumpkin seeds
¼ cup sunflower seeds

Directions:

Preheat oven to 300̊. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Pour orange juice over dates and let soak 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, put almonds, apricots, and plums in a food processor and pulsing a few times until coarsely chopped. Add salt and dates with orange juice and pulse until mixture starts to stick together. Add pumpkin and sunflower seeds, pulsing a few times just to incorporate.

Using wet hands, scoop mixture onto a work surface and form into a log about 1¾ in. wide and ½ in. thick. Use your palms to flatten into a bar, and cut bar into eight pieces.

Arrange pieces about 1 in. apart on baking sheet. Bake 8 minutes. Using a heatproof spatula, turn bars over and bake until nuts are toasted (but before fruit begins to burn), 8 minutes longer.