Homemade No-Bake Bars! Healthy AND Delicious

I've been wanting to make these for such a long time! I'm glad I finally did because now I'm hooked. The best part is you can experiment with different ingredients and different flavors, and basically create your own concoctions. They were super easy to make and I love the fact that they're no-bake (which means less chances of screwing it up...) Healthy, vegan, delicious, simple. What's not to love?

Ingredients:

1 1/2 cup of pitted dates

1 cup of almond/cashew mix

1 cup of coconut flakes (unsweetened)

1/2 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Tip: If you want the bars to be less gooey, reduce the dates to about just a cup. If you want them to be less sweet, opt out of the vanilla extract.

1. Combine the nuts and coconut into your food processor and mix well until it looks kind of like the

photo below.

2. I soaked the dates in warm water for about five minutes, just to make sure they weren't too dry when it came time to chop them up in the Nutri Bullet. If you're using a similar food processor, they only need to be roughly chopped—about a few seconds should do. Take the gooey mix over to the bowl of mixed nuts and coconut and blend well. (Optional: add the vanilla extract to give it a sweeter taste.) 

3. Now you want to spread out the mix onto a tray with wax paper (just because it makes it easier to spread out and it won't stick to the paper when it's time to cut them into separate pieces.) Try to make sure that it's evenly spread out and not too thin, but not too thick either. 

4. Place in the fridge for about an hour or two. Since my bars were on the gooier side, I waited about two hours before cutting them up. Once they're ready, cut them up in whatever size you want! 

There you have it! A simple alternative to granola bars. The perfect snack or even dessert if you're trying to stay away from processed sugars, etc. Feel free to play around with ingredients! You basically just need one dry ingredient (such as nuts), one "wet" ingredient to make sure they stick (dates, prunes, etc.) and then any add-ons for flavor (such as the coconut flakes.) Check out this list for some inspiration: Homemade Larabars