Green Earth Practice: Reduce Packaging Waste - Make Your Own Treats

Want to know an easy way to reduce your carbon footprint on this planet?  Reduce the amount of waste that you produce.  And as easy way to do that is by making your own snacks.

Think about how many granola wrappers or to-go packages you have gone through in your life.  It's a bit alarming, even if you are an eco-conscious individual.  We are all guilty of it at some point in our lives.  

In my mind, one that sticks out that I was guilty of for a long while was buying a little sweet treat called "Sesame Snaps".  Sesame snaps are these little bites of sesame and honey that are the perfect combination of not too sweet, crunchy, and INDIVIDUALLY wrapped in plastic!  Ugh!

I vowed to never buy them again just for the mere fact that they are overly packaged.  

This one day I stumbled upon a recipe by Rebecca Katz for her Triple Triple Brittle Bars.  It was pretty darn close to what I was craving and then some.  Click here to see her recipe! 

I tweaked her recipe to make it into the Sesame Snaps of my dreams - all the deliciousness without the plastic.  My family chows these down!  Good thing I buy everything in bulk! 

• 2 cups of Sesame Seeds
• 1 tsp Ground Ginger
• 2 tsp Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Salt
• 3/4 cup of Maple Syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla

Preheat oven to 325.

Line a baking sheet with parchment paper

In a medium size mixing bowl, mix all of your dry ingredients together throughly.  Then add your maples syrup and vanilla.  Mix well until it is well combined.

Pour out mixture onto the baking sheet and smooth out across the sheet.  It will spread as you bake it, but still be sure to smooth it out to an even layer.

Bake for 25-30 minutes.  Let it cool for at least 10 minutes so that it will be nice and crunchy.  If it isn't crunchy, just pop it into the oven for another 5-8 minutes.  

After they are completely cool, store in an air tight container.

Enjoy!