No-bake peanut butter, coconut & date snack bars

Something a little different! No bake peanut butter, coconut & date snack bars. At times like this it's important we avoid having sugary drinks and fast-food which makes us feel lazy and sluggish. If you feel peckish, make these instead of having quick sugary alternatives which don't provide you with long lasting energy until lunch or dinner. Although dates have a high sugar content, they are a good source of antioxidants and have a high amount of fibre. Try to use an all-natural peanut butter for this recipe without any added sugars and salts. These snack bars keep well in the fridge for about a week, and you can freeze these for about 1-2 months. This recipes makes around 15 snack bars.

Ingredients

2 tbsp desiccated coconut 

Handful pistachio nuts, roughly chopped

4 tbsp peanut butter 

4-5 tbsp agave syrup or maple syrup. If you don't have these, something like golden syrup or honey will also work!

150g oats 

250g dates, depitted, medjool or any other variety will do

Pinch salt 

Method

• In a dry frying pan on medium heat, toast the oats, pistachios and coconut until golden. Add to large mixing bowl with the salt and set aside.
  
  
• In a food processor, whizz the dates until paste-like. Add to the bowl with the oats, coconut and pistachios and mix well well.
  
  
• Add the peanut butter and syrup.
  
  
• Mix until the dry ingredients are well covered by the dates, peanut butter and syrup.
  
  
• Line a baking tray with a little oil. Add the snack bar mixture and compress firmly into the baking tray. I find the bottom of a saucepan works well here.
  
  
• Set in a fridge for around 2-3 hours until firm.
  
  
• Cut into chunks and keep in air-tight container in the fridge. 

The toasting of the coconut, pistachios and oats are optional, I think the taste of the snack bars goes up a notch if you do this. This is also a very versatile recipe. You can also add in some fresh fruits, blueberries work really well here. You can also give these snackbars a banana flavour by substituting a mashed banana for the syrup. If you don't like pistachios you can add almonds or hazelnuts instead. The options are endless.