I think a good snack bar packed with natural energy thanks to dried fruit, oats, seeds/nuts is one of my favourite things to make at the moment. Once you’ve nailed a good basic mixture – in this case, a combination of dates, maple syrup and nut butter to combine the dry ingredients and create a delicious soft texture – the fun is adding in other things you love depending on your preferences.
Here, dark chocolate, pumpkin seeds and dried apricots with a hint of cinnamon and ginger make a wonderfully warming match, but you could totally switch up the add ins to result whatever energy boosting snack you fancy. Shout out to Yumello for providing the peanut butter used in this recipe [gifted] – their salted date variety is definitely one to get your hands on!
Ingredients:
- 250g rolled oats (I used Mornflake)
- 50g pumpkin seeds (I used Whitworths)
- 100g dried apricots, chopped (I used Whitworths)
- 50g dark chocolate, chopped (I used Montezuma’s)
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon (I used Buy Wholefoods Ceylon cinnamon)
- ½ teaspoon ground ginger
- 100g dates + 150ml water
- 100ml maple syrup
- 4 tablespoons peanut butter (I used Yumello Salted Date Peanut Butter)
Get making!
- Preheat the oven to 180C and grease and line a 9x9in baking tin.
- Mix together the oats, seeds, dried apricots, chocolate, cinnamon and ginger in a large bowl.
- Place the dates and water, maple syrup and nut butter in a small pan and simmer for about 10 minutes until the dates have softened. Set aside and leave to cool a little then blend (I used my Ninja Kitchen Nutri Ninja).
- Add to the bowl and mix well so everything has combined. Spoon the mixture into the tin, smooth out evenly and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden and firmed up. Leave to cool for 10 minutes, cut into 9-12 bars, then leave to cool completely in the tin. Enjoy!
