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Ever since I got my food processor, I’ve been on a kick of making my own date and nut bars. Store-bought versions of these bars can be pretty costly over time. These make great snacks and even gifts. my aunt requests these every time I visit home.
Coffee, dark chocolate, and vanilla make for a sweet treat.
This recipe came with a bit of trial and error for me. At first I added too much coffee and chocolate (never enough chocolate, I know) and not enough vanilla, which led me to becoming a lunatic and running to the store like the world was going to end tomorrow if I didn’t get more dates, nuts, and cocoa powder immediately. I was able to make it work, thus blog post.
You may use any type of nut if you want, I chose the almond/walnut combo as the textures pair well. The walnuts are a softer, buttery nut, and the almonds a more crunchy, hard nut.
I used ground coffee, but I’ve also made these with ground espresso, and a variety of coffee blends too. I’d recommend smelling the grounds and seeing if the flavors would pair well with this energy bar. I like to choose coffees with notes of roasted nuts and cocoa, providing a less acidic finish.
Ingredients:
1/2 cup almonds
1/2 cup walnuts
1 1/4 cup (packed) dates
3 tbsp unsweetened cocoa/ cacao powder
1 tsp ground coffee
1.5 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup dark chocolate chips
dash or two of sea salt, to taste
Preparation:
Add nuts and dates into food processor and blend well. Then add in the cocoa, coffee, vanilla, and chocolate chips and blend a bit more until all the ingredients are mixed, chopped up, and the texture is moldable.
Form into whatever shapes you’d like. I found that making balls out of tablespoon measures are the easiest for me.
Store these in a sealed container in the fridge. They will last for quite a while, unless you’re like myself and devour these within the first few days.
These definitely taste better with age. The flavors really come together after a few hours, and even a few days of storage in the fridge.
Enjoy.
You can roll these energy balls in cacao powder to create this dusted look.
These look delicious, especially after making my Carrot Cake Larabars, I am determined to try out some more!
Thank you! Your carrot cake Laras look yummy too! I’ve always enjoyed that Larabar flavor.
These were awesome, you’ll have to let me know how you like ’em :)
Hi! Found this recipe and it looks delicious! How many balls did this make for you? Wondering if I should double the recipe :)
Hi there Marilyn, thank you. It generally varies, but around 10-12 I’d say. If you want them super small, like bite size, you can make a bunch…or really big and only a few! You cannot go wrong in doubling the recipe though, as they are supa yummy :)