Tonight I am making pecan pie bars. (My room-mate is leaving for San Diego — wonder how it smells/what she will see???— she is a big fear eater — she sat down and ate two sandwiches before heading home on 9/11– so she needs some food that will pass security and hold her until she gets to California from New York, since the airlines don’t serve meals anymore)
I really miss pecan pie, so I decided to see if I could make a pecan pie flavored bar this time. (the dough tasted pretty close, and I am counting on the dehydrated bars being pretty pecan pie-ish)
PECAN PIE BARS
3/4 C pecans, soaked 8 hours
3/4 C almonds, soaked 8 hours
1 C pitted dates, soaked 4 hours
• Drain the pecans and almonds, and save the soak water to add to soups or smoothies.
• Drain the dates, and reserve the soak water .
• In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process smooth (or to taste). From time to time, push mix down the sides of the food processor with a spatula. (Add a little date soak water, if necessary, to keep the processor running – I did not need to).
• Take about a 1-inch ball of the dough, roll it into a log, and flatten it into a bar shape on a teflex/paraflex dehydrator sheet on a dehydrator tray. (Dampen fingers in date soak water to keep dough from sticking and make forming bars easier).
• Repeat with the rest of the dough.
• Dehydrate at 140 degrees for 1 hour.
• Remove tray from dehydrator. Place a dehydrator screen over the bars, and place another dehydrator tray over the screen. Flip the tray assembly and remove the top tray. Carefully peel off the teflex sheet, and return the bars to the dehydrator.
• Lower the temperature to 100 degrees and continue to dehydrate until the bars are firm (approximately 6-8 hours in an Excalibur)
Makes 1 sheet of @ 20 bars (your mileage may vary)
PRETTY SMART RAW FOOD IDEAS 
the pecan bars turned out perfecto!!!! I put the temperature at 145 degrees for 1 hour, then turned it down and flipped the bars onto the mesh screen. I had put the timer at 10 hours, and I just left it there, so the dehydrator turned off before I got up at 5:30 this morning. I like the flavor, so that is what counts. I think some people might like to add some vanilla, but I like the three ingredient idea.
Sounds tasty, I might have to invest in a dehydrator soon!
do it!!!
I so do recommend getting an Excalibur up front, because you are going to get it sooner or later …..
The reason you are going to want to get the Excalibur is EASE… you can add and remove trays easily (without disassembling the whole thing, and the dehydration time is uniform and quick.
Other dehdyrators require you to take off all of the trays to get to the bottom one, for example, but Excalibur loads from the front, so you can check trays individually, without worrying about other trays at all.
I really recommend getting the one with the timer… it makes life so much easier… but you can find cheaper models that don’t have the timer.
check ebay for deals
(I bought mine directly from the company because I did not know anyone who had a dehydrator, and I felt I needed that kind of support. I have never regretted it… they treated me so well!!!!)