I have a wonderful friend that I work with who has cut out dairy, meat and sugar from his diet. When I baked him a cake he couldn’t eat it. Hmmm, plan B. So I was searching…… thinking maybe Granola Bars would make a nice thank you treat. Something fun, easy, light, filling and healthy. I searched and searched since I had never made them before and this was what I landed on. Thank you Little Monster Baby blog for the template for these. I added some additional ingredients. Believe I accidentally added too much honey, so these were sooooo sticky they nearly killed my Cuisinart. Yes, it survived but it is not happy with me at all. Next time I will pull a Lucille Ball. Yuck Yuck.
These turned out delicious buuuuuuuuut I needed (for me personally) more nuts, less honey, and definitely more sesame seeds. Probably in that order. The cashews were perfect in these. Perfect. And maybe a new Cuisinart. I think mine is a dinosaur. A great Dinosaur but still a dinosaur! It barely survived these.
Here’s all you do:
Almond Date Granola Bars aka WAMBOLD BARS
- 1 cup quick oats
- 1 1/2 cup slivered raw almonds
- 1 cup dates
- 3/4 cups honey
- 1 tablespoon peanut butter
- 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup cashews whole or pieces (but not ground)
- 1 Tbsp Flax Seeds
- 1 Tbsp sesame seeds
Preheat oven 350 degrees.
In a food processor, pulverize oats and 1 cup of the raw almonds to the consistency of bread crumbs. Then, add dates remaining ingredients and blend until sticky and incorporated. Spill mixture out onto a board and fold in remaining 1/2 cup of almonds.
Add this mixture to a parchment lined small baking dish (3 cup / 4 1/2″ x 6 1/2″), and bake for 25-30 minutes. Remove from dish, sprinkle with more and more sesame seeds and cut into squares. Fabulous with a cup of coffee and great friends!
Bon Appétit.
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