Have you ever experienced a nostalgic attachment to a particular food? For me, coconut is one of those foods, and I believe it started around 14 years ago on a family vacation to Puerto Vallarta, Mexico. I had the luxury of being able to invite my best friend at the time, and looking back now, I don’t think I remember any other trip as vividly as I do this particular one. It was one of those trips that you can’t help but look back at and smile.
While I could tell you that my attachment for coconut came from some awesome Mexican adventure we had involving a machete navigating us through the wild to gather our own, I would be lying, as I’m pretty sure it stemmed from my love of the *virgin* pina coladas served poolside at our resort. Mmmmm, pina coladas. So tropical, so refreshing and just so vacation cliche. Every time I think of them, I am seemingly unable to quiet the Jimmy Buffet playing loudly in my mind.
While today’s post is not a pina colada recipe (I know, bummer 
but I will get on one!), it does contain coconut in the form of a delicious and easy to pack snack.
While nut clusters are not new to this blog (check out my cacao chocolate chip clusters), these cashew coconut nut clusters are, and they are incredibly easy to make. With a simple mixture of raw cashew halves, unsweetened coconut flakes, puffed millet, raw almonds and a touch of honey, vanilla and brown rice syrup to bind it, these cashew coconut nut clusters provide the perfect hint of sweet and savory.
Simply combine your wet ingredients separately from your dry ingredients, then mix them together until evenly coated. Transfer your mixture to a parchment lined baking dish (I used an 8 x 8 glass Pyrex dish), and pat down with a plastic spatula to make a single, even layer as pictured below..
Place your nut mixture into a preheated oven (400F), and cook for 16-20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden. When finished, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before carefully transferring it to a wire rack to cool. After about an hour, your mixture should be pretty firm, and at this point, you will want to start gently breaking it into several ‘clusters’ of varying sizes. Let your clusters completely cool down and harden before placing them into a Ziplock bag to store.
- 2 cups raw cashew halves
- 1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes (I used Bob’s Red Mill)
- 1/2 cup raw, whole almonds
- 1/2 cup organic puffed millet
- 2 Tbsp. organic brown rice syrup
- 2 Tbsp. raw organic honey
- 1 tsp. pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp pink Himalayan salt
- Preheat oven to 400F
- In a small, microwave safe bowl, combine your wet ingredients, heating if necessary to soften.
- In a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients.
- Pour your wet ingredient mixture over the top of your dry ingredients and mix them together until evenly coated.
- Transfer your mixture to a parchment lined baking dish (I used an 8 x 8 glass Pyrex dish), and pat down with a plastic spatula to make a single, even layer.
- Place mixture into a preheated oven (400F), and cook for 16-20 minutes, or until the top is lightly golden. When finished, remove from the oven and let cool for 5 minutes before carefully transferring it to a wire rack to cool.
- After about an hour, your mixture should be pretty firm, and at this point you will want to start gently breaking it into several ‘clusters’ of varying sizes.
- Let your clusters completely cool down and harden before placing them into a Ziplock bag to store.
Melissa @ Nourish By Melissa
March 12, 2014 at 7:49 am (10 years ago)This makes me so happy! At my grandmother’s house, she always keeps this giant tub of these cashew honey cluster things on the top shelf of her pantry and as a kid I would always get the ladder and climb up to eat as many as I can. This is basically a healthy variation of a childhood favorite
Thanks for sharing!
Ethnic Food
June 4, 2014 at 11:20 pm (10 years ago)informative post, nicely written, thanks for sharing
Ann
May 26, 2018 at 8:07 pm (6 years ago)Made twice. Both time burned, other than that, it’s great. Is 400F too high?
Danielle
June 5, 2018 at 8:13 pm (6 years ago)So sorry to hear that it burned, Ann! The hard thing with baking is that temperature can vary so much from oven to oven. I would definitely try cooking it at maybe 350F, or keep it at 400F and check it more frequently. Pull it right when it starts to get golden brown.