Where will you take them? To the gym? to the movies? to your plastic surgery consultation to buy a better rack? Like I said, they go anywhere!
OK, let's do this:
Stupid Easy Energy Bars
makes 10 bars
total time 15 min
1 lb medjool dates, pits removed
1 handful dried berries
5 handfuls of nuts and seeds of your choice, I used:
walnuts
cashews
slivered almonds
pistachios
pumpkin seeds
dried cranderries
2 oz. dark chocolate
Make sure all the pits are removed from the dates and run them in a food processor. This will take a few sessions as dates have a tendency to glob up. If you don't have a food processor chop them up over and over and over until they form a big sticky blob. It will take a while if you do it by hand. Just keep going.
For larger nuts (hee hee), I've found it's better to run them in a food processor until they resemble coarse sand. That's what I did for the cashews and walnuts (bottom left). If you don't have a food processor, put them in a heavy duty plastic bag and smash them with a hammer. Seriously.
Next, melt the chocolate by placing it in a heat proof bowl. Place the bowl in a pot with a small amount of boiling water making sure not to let the water get into the bowl of chocolate.
Now mix all the nuts together in a big bowl. Cut the blob of dates into 4 parts and place it in the bowl of nuts and seeds. Use your hands to mush the nuts into the dates. Add more nuts if it seems like there's enough sticky date surface area. You know when you've reached Maximum Nut Capacity when they stop sticking.
Mash the whole mess out flat on a baking sheet lined with wax paper. Now you can cut them into whatever shape you want. Drizzle with the melted chocolate and refrigerate. Once they're cool, store them in the fridge in an air tight container.
