Sinfully Delicious Date Bars
These date bars literally blew my mind. I had been coming across this recipe on Pinterest so I finally decided to try it out since these date bars looked sinfully delicious. They taste better than they look and I will be re-doing these for our Christmas dinner. These paleo bars are a very sweet treat, good for clean eaters who are keen on knowing their food contains no junk. But this recipe is even good for any ‘healthy desert sceptic’ in your family. Being very sweet no one will even care if it is healthy or not, because it is just that good.
The recipe has no artificial sweeteners, just dates, and believe me there’s no need for more sweet stuff. The original recipe called for oranges but not having any I went for just lemons. The added tartness of the lemon gave this dessert that needed slight tang. I also don’t use store bought coconut flour but make my own using shredded coconut. Check out how you can do yours here.
- 1 cup ground almonds
- ½ cup blanched almond slices
- 2 ½ cups shredded coconut
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- Dash of sea salt
- ¾ cup coconut oil, melted
- 250g pitted dates
- Zest of one lemon
- Juice of ½ a lemon
- 1 cup water
- ½ tsp vanilla powder
- Dash of sea salt
- Start by blending the coconut in a food processor to form coconut flour.
- Add the remaining bottom layer dry ingredients except for the coconut oil and blanched almond slices. Combine well together using a food processor.
- Gently fold in the coconut oil while processing. A crumbly dough will be formed. Place dough inside refrigerator for at least 20 minutes.
- Meanwhile, combine all the ingredients for the date mixture in a medium saucepan and cook over medium heat for about 5 minutes, until the liquid has fully evaporated and you’re left with a creamy, mushy and smooth, date mixture. Set aside to cool.
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C and grease a baking tray with coconut oil (8 inch square will do but even a little bit bigger).
- Take out the crust dough from the fridge. Use a little bit more than half of the dough and press tightly on the bottom of the greased pan to form the base of the bars.
- Bake the base for 20 minutes.
- When base is lightly golden, remove from the oven, let cool slightly then gently layer the date mixture over. Use your hands to gently layer the dates because the base will be soft.
- Then use the remaining crust dough mixture to crumble over the top. Sprinkle the blanched almond slices on top.
- Bake for a further 20 to 25 minutes.
- You can serve warm or cold. Let cool completely for easier cutting. The bars will be very crumbly if stored outside a fridge. Store in fridge to harden.
- Recipe yields 9 very good sized bars.
