Recipe: Chocolate-coconut date bars

I am always looking for healthy snacks that will satisfy my sweet tooth but that don’t contain too much added sugar. One such snack are these chocolate-coconut date bars. They are void of added sugars, use only 4 ingredients and given the right amount of tools or prep work can be whipped up in less than 30 minutes. What’s not to love?

These bars are delicious and a little bit sticky so once you cut them it is wise to keep them separated by greaseproof paper. I simply keep them in an airtight container in the fridge. About 2 pieces do the trick for me, which means I’ll have snacks for 4 – 5 days when I make this amount.

8 – 10 servings. Prep time: none or overnight. Total time: 30 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 250 grams Medjoul dates
• 100 grams macadamia nuts (and I added some leftover pecan nuts as well)
• Cocoa powder (unsweetened)
• Desiccated coconut

Tools:

• s-blade food processor
• mold lined with clingfilm

Step 1: This depends on the strength of your food processor, but if you have one that is not so strong it is best to prep this overnight. The dates are very sticky and they might cause your food processor to blow up its engine if you don’t. So what I like to do is to soak the dates overnight. If you have a strong food processor, you can skip this step.

Step 2: Line a rectangular shaped mold (I simply use an old plastic cheese container) with cling film. This will make it easier to remove once the snacks have settled.

Step 3: take your food processor and blitz up your ingredients.

Step 4: first blitz up your nuts (as those are ‘dry’) and set aside.

Step 5: blitz up your dates into a sticky, goopy mess.

Step 6: add the nuts, dates, chocolate and coconut to the food processor and blend. You can use as much cocoa powder and coconut as you like. If you don’t like coconut, leave it out. If you don’t like chocolate, leave it out. If you leave out the chocolate, the color will me more caramel than brown.

Step 7: Transfer the mixture into your mold and press down with a spoon till the top is smooth and all corners are filled.

Step 8: Set in the freezer for 30 minutes to set.

Step 9: take out of the freezer and cut into bar sized chunks.

Step 10: set onto greaseproof paper to prevent them from sticking.

These can be kept in the fridge, but they will go a bit fudgy and become less solid. Freezing them for too long will make them firmer, but they will freeze overnight and thus become solid and too hard to bite into. The freezer is the best way to keep them if you plan on not eating them straightaway. However, I find that with these I have to hold myself back to not try and eat the entire batch in one go. Enjoy!

What is your favorite healthy snack?