Saturday, June 11, 2011

Cashew, Coconut and Date Bars

Eating breakfast is kind of ritual for me. I take my grapefruit, granola, green juice, smoothie, or whatever else I'm into eating at the time, and park myself front of my computer. While I eat, I catch up on my RSS feeds, read the paper, check Facebook and tend to my email. Not wanting to miss the excitement, Lira usually sits next to me in Austin's desk chair. This morning routine is a simple pleasure, but I consider it a vital one. It's so important to me, in fact, that I wake up about half an hour earlier than necessary just to fit it in. It probably seems a bit crazy to Austin, who goes about his mornings quite differently.

He follows the "get out the door as quickly as possible" schooMl of thought, which has resulted in him skipping breakfast for a while now. He says it's because "he doesn't have time" for it, which I'm almost certain means he'd rather sleep in an few extra minutes. I hate to get all "breakfast is the most important meal of the day" on him, but I do believe everyone should eat something before they start off their day. I thought if I made his breakfast as grab-and-go as possible he'd be more likely to actually eat something before lunch. That's where these bars come in.

I wanted to make a snack reminiscent of a Larabar, one that's vegan and made from just a few, relatively unprocessed ingredients. Specifically, I was thinking of the Cashew Cookie flavor, which has just two ingredients -- dates (mmm, nature's caramel!) and cashews. My bars have a higher nut to date ratio though, so if you'd like a chewier, stickier bar just increase the amount of dates to about 2-3 cups. You can also leave out the coconut or substitute it for something else, like chopped dried fruit or chocolate chips. The recipe below is just a guideline, so please experiment and make it your own.

I'm pleased to report that these bars were tasty enough to persuade Austin to eat breakfast several times this week. I'm sure he'll get sick of them eventually though, so I'd love to hear what portable breakfasts you all enjoy. 


Cashew, Coconut and Date Bars
Makes 8 bars
  • 1 cup raw cashews
  • 1 1/2 cup packed pitted dates, or about 17 large dates (they can be pricey, so I buy mine in bulk at Sam's)
  • 1/2 cup dried, unsweetened coconut
1.  Toss the cashews into the food processor and pulse a few times to chop them. Add the dates and the coconut, processing until the dates are chopped and the mixture starts to stick together. Try to form a golf size ball with the mixture. If it doesn't stick together, add more dates.

2.  Transfer the mixture to a parchment or plastic lined square or rectangular baking dish. If you have an 8 by 8 baking dish, use that. Evenly distribute the mixture along the bottom of the pan, pressing it down firmly. If, like me, you're using a larger baking dish, just spread the mixture along the pan until the bars are about 1/2 inch thick and even out the edge that doesn't touch the pan with your hands.

3.  Refrigerate the bars for at least 1 1/2 hours before carefully cutting them into 8 sections. If you've added more dates, you can probably get away with shortening chilling them for a shorter period of time. Individually wrap them, put them in plastic baggies or tupperware and store them in the fridge until you're ready to enjoy them. If left outside the fridge, they'll get softer and may not hold together as well, but they'll still be delicious.

8 comments:

  1. These will definitely be gracing my on the go breakfast soon! Something I like to make when I have a little more time are spinach smoothies. I know it probably sounds and looks kinda nasty, but they're delicious. A friend of mine had started making them based on a smoothie she got at a vegan/organic breakfast place here in Atlanta. Basically it's some mango, a bit of pineapple juice, and a bunch of spinach with a few ice cubes, blend until smooth and delicious. I've swapped out mango for strawberries as well - makes the color a little funny but just as delicious!

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  2. Spinach smoothies don't sound nasty at all. I've actually juiced and/or blended all sorts of stuff, including spinach. I do need to get back into that, especially now that summer's here and fresh local fruit is more plentiful. Austin will actually drink those smoothies if I make them (and clean the blender), so I'll add them to our summer breakfast rotation. Thanks Gen!

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  3. These sounded so good that I couldn't wait to make them! Mine weren't really sticking together despite adding more dates, so I added some honey to help that out. (I know honey's not vegan, sorry!) These bars are delicious! They're currently in the fridge chilling and I can't wait to have one for breakfast tomorrow :-) Thanks for the awesome recipe.

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  4. Hey Maria! Glad you thought they sounded good. Sorry yours didn't stick together. I'm guessing it was probably because my dates were moister than yours. If I had run into the problem I would've probably added maple syrup, but honey works too (no worries about it not being vegan!). Hope you enjoy your breakfast tomorrow!

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  5. Yeah, the dates I got definitely weren't very moist. I could only find a small package in the store and they were meant more as snacks. I never thought of maple syrup, I may have to try a batch with that as well. They were delicious either way. I'm lucky they lasted until breakfast this morning. When James got home and I told him what I had made, he immediately had to try a few :-)

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  6. Yeah, my dates were Medjool ones, really large, plump, and sticky. Glad James enjoyed them too!

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  7. I make these weekly now and I'm addicted - they are delicious. I also throw in some prunes and agave nectar when the dates are too dry. My husband thinks I should sell them at the farmers' market!

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  8. Glad you like them. Maybe you should start selling them!

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