I’m always looking for a healthy snack to take on the trail. These almond date oat bars are absolutely coming with me on my next hike.
These bars are inspired by Minimalist Baker’s oat bar recipe. What I love about these bars is that no baking is required. Although we all know that I love baking, sometimes you don’t want to turn on the oven or the oven’s already full with something else. These bars set up quickly, even quicker if you don’t add the additional chocolate drizzle.
The roasted nuts and oats add a special toasty flavor to the bars that would otherwise be fairly sweet. When roasting the almonds, walnuts, and oats make sure to watch them closely though. Since the walnuts are prone to burn quickly, you want to wait to add them to the almonds and oats until halfway through roasting. This allows the walnuts to slightly roast without burning them.
When you’re heating up the maple syrup and almond butter, it’ll start out thick. But as you continue to cook and stir over low heat, the sauce will come together and thin. This sauce will act as the binder of the almond date oat bars along with the dates.
When you add all of the ingredients together, the chocolate chips may melt if you don’t allow the sauce to slightly cool beforehand. If they do melt, don’t worry. The dark chocolate flavor will then be throughout the bars instead of spread out throughout them. The ingredients are quite sticky when mixing them together due to the syrup in the sauce and the dates themselves. Once it comes together though, it’s easy to form into the parchment-lined loaf pan. When you store the almond date oat bars in the fridge, you’ll then use the excess parchment paper to cover itself up.
The dark chocolate drizzle and maldon salt make the bars. The salt helps bring out the toasty notes of the almonds and walnuts. And the chocolate, well doesn’t everyone love a little extra chocolate?!
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates, pitted
- 1 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup creamy almond butter
- 1/2 cup almonds, chopped
- 1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
- 1 1/2 cup rolled oats, roasted
- 1/3 cup dark chocolate chips, plus 1/4 cup dark chocolate chips for drizzling
Instructions
Begin by preheating the oven to 350F degrees.
Place chopped almonds and oats onto a parchment-lined baking sheet. Place them in the oven. Allow them to roast for 5 minutes. Stir, add in the walnuts, then roast an additional 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and allow them to cool.
While they're roasting, heat up the maple syrup and almond butter in a small saucepan on low heat, stirring often, until melted down into a sauce. Set aside and allow to slightly cool.
Place the pitted dates in a microwave-safe dish with a tablespoon of water. Microwave for 30 seconds until the dates are softened. Add the dates and water to a food processor and pulse under minced into small pieces, almost that of a paste.
Add all of the ingredients to a bowl, except the additional chocolate chips for drizzling. Using a spatula, mix all of the ingredients together until they're fully incorporated. Place the bar mixture into a parchment-lined loaf pan. Cover the bars with the excess parchment paper that's hanging over the edge of the loaf pan. Allow the bars to set in the fridge for 20 minutes.
Remove the bars from the fridge and cut them into 1 1/2 inch rectangles.
Melt the dark chocolate chips in a microwave-safe dish for 1 minute, stirring halfway through. Drizzle the chocolate over the bars and sprinkle with Maldon salt. Allow them to sit for 10 minutes, then place them back in the fridge for an additional 10 minutes.
They can be stored in the fridge for a few days or longer in the freezer.
Enjoy on the trail or as a healthy treat!
