Nutty Snack Bars

I first whipped up a batch of these for a baby shower I was going to at a friend’s house. They’d recently come back from living in LA and wanted there to be a healthy option to sit next to the obligatory pastries, salmon and crème cheese bagels and bacon sandwiches. Needless to say that not many people ate them (who can blame them when it’s a choice between that and a bacon sarnie?) which meant I had lots to take home for myself. They’re perfect as a quick brekkie on the go or to snack on while at work.

These are great for a few reasons; firstly they are really easy to make, secondly they can use up lots of bits and pieces form your pantry, and lastly they can go in the freezer and last for months.

When I made this batch I used up a bunch of nuts I had in the cupboard from a few other recipes. Pretty much all of the quantities are estimates and you can play with what you’re adding as long as you’ve got enough glue to stick it all together. In this recipe your ‘glue’ is made from melted dates, nut butter, coconut oil and a drizzle of honey.

First you melt down the dates (stones removed) with peanut butter and coconut oil in a saucepan over a medium-low heat. You can either chop up the dates before putting them in the pan or do as I do and use your wooden spoon to mash them up as its all coming together – a satisfying job indeed. At this stage you can add your drizzle or honey.

Once it’s all combined and you’ve got a sticky gooey mixture, add in your raisins, chopped nuts, oats and any other bits and pieces you want to add in and give it a really good stir.

Line a dish with greaseproof paper and pour in your mixture ensuring it’s all packed together nicely and put it in the fridge for a few hours to chill. This will make cutting it a whole lot easier. Once it’s set remove it from the fridge and chop it into little squares for snacking or breakfast bars to eat on the go. Or if you don’t mind getting a bit sticky you can roll it into balls when the mixture has cooled down a bit – all the health food shops seem to be obsessed with protein balls at the moment.

Once it’s set remove it from the fridge and chop it into little squares for snacking or breakfast bars to eat on the go. Or if you don’t mind getting a bit sticky you can roll it into balls when the mixture has cooled down a bit – all the health food shops seem to be obsessed with protein balls at the moment and these are much better than spending £2 on on one of those.

I like to wrap my bars in greaseproof paper and pop half in the fridge and stash half in the freezer for later. And that’s it, a super simple snack bar packed full of natural ingredients for guilt free energy when you need it.

INGREDIENTS

150g Roughly Chopped Nuts (For this batch I used 50g hazelnuts, 60g pecans, 40 pistachios but you can use any nuts you like)

60g Raisins

1tbs Honey (maple syrup or agave syrup is great too)

2tbs Nut Butter (I've used 1 almond and one peanut this time)

2tbs Oats

1tbs Coconut Oil

1tbs Poppyseeds

1tbs Chia seeds