Highlight of the weekend!

It was a good weekend, great food was eaten, new recipes created and shopping was done! There was however one thing which stood out as being the highlight…

I’ve taken a fancy of Nakd Bars of late, the only problem being that they are a tad pricey, and funding the craving is getting a little expensive at €1.70 a pop…

I decided to do a few calculations based on the percentage ingredients listed on the side of the pack. All raw, all vegan, the only hard part was working out the amount of each required and getting the balance just right. I put my Maths head on and worked the percentages back against the calories in the bar and the calorie content of the ingredients.

Pretty happy with my ingredient list whipped out the food processor, did a little whizzing, some compounding and stuck the three bars I’d created in the fridge…They looked like Nakd Bars, smelt like them and a few layers later when I went to taste them…they tasted just like them too! Granted they weren’t as need as those from the packet, not quite as smooth, but the flavour and texture was a resounding success!

Cocoa Loco are my favourite of all the Nakd Oatie Bars so of course they were the first ones I had to attempt to make. If anything they the chocolaty flavour was a little more intense (the joys of Green and Blacks Cocoa Powder!).

I’ve only ever tried to make my own raw bars once before and they turned out to be a bit of flop. Dates and almonds on their own…not so good, dates, almonds, cocoa powder, oats and apple juice on the other hand..INCREDIBLE! I have another one of these babies packed up with me for my mid morning snack today and have plans to make another variety come next weekend.

I’ve a VERY busy week ahead of me this week with the customer seminar almost upon us in work so these energy bars will be handy go to snacks. Only make three was a bit of an oversight, though it just means I have an excuse to make another variety sooner rather than later!

What are you’re favourite raw bars?

Homemade Cocoa Oatie Nakd Bars

 Print this easy peasy recipe

Preparation Time – 10 minutes

Servings – 3 * 65g bars

Ingredients

• 90g (3oz) Dates
• 45g (1/2 cup) Rolled Oats
• 25g (0.8oz) Almonds
• 1-2 tbsp Apple Juice
• 1 tbsp Dutch Unprocessed Cocoa Powder

Directions

1. Place dates in a food processor and process on high until finely chopped.
2. Add in almonds and again process again until finely chopped.
3. Next in go the oats and cocoa powder. Process until everything is finely chopped. Add in 1 tbsp of apple juice and process until the mixture starts to come together. Add the second tbsp of apple juice if the mixture doesn’t start to form a mound in the processor.
4. Remove and divide in to three. Shape in to rectangular bars (or whatever shape you like) and place in the fridge for a couple of hours to harden up. Store in the fridge or freeze for a handy energy dense snack.
5. Each bar is approx. 220 calories.

Tagged as: dates, energy bars, oat bars, raw bars, snack, vegan, vegan snack