I’m sure all of you have bought an item on impulse, which ended up languishing in the pantry or fridge until the expiration date. Well, mine was this beautiful bag of Tunisian dates. They look yummy don’t they?

To be honest, the only time I ever eat dates is on the odd occasion when I have a date square. I’m not exactly sure why I bought them. So 10 months later, there they sat, spinning around every day on the lazy Susan, rubbing shoulders with tomato soup cans. Poor fellas.

Well, the other day I popped into a local cafe and, feeling a bit hungry, I bought a homemade energy bar. They were amazing. I couldn’t help but ask what they were made of and they said: dried fruit, sesame seeds, coconut oil, chia seeds and you guessed it … dates! Finally, my lonely dates found their recipe. If you like Lara bars, you will love these.

Energy Bars

Ingredients:

1 3/4 cup dried pitted dates (that’s all I had but I’m sure if you had 2 cups that would be fine)

1 cup almonds

1 cup dried apricots (you can try other dried fruit like cherries)

2 tbsp chia seeds (you can also try sesame seeds or coconut to add a little crunch)

1 Tbsp coconut oil, plus extra to grease the pan

Directions:

Grease a square baking pan with coconut oil or line it with parchment paper.

Put all ingredients into a blender.

Blend until the ingredients become a smooth paste.

Put the paste into the greased pan and spread evenly and smoothly. I put a little coconut oil on my hands so it didn’t stick. Put in the fridge to cool.

Cut into squares when firm. I have to admit that the only problem I had was removing the bars, so in hindsight, I would recommend lining the pan with parchment paper or making them into little bite-size balls. You only learn by trying!