I love a good, nourishing snack recipe, and while I often turn to date balls as my go-to home made snack (side note – I cannot believe how tiny Miss M. looks in the photographs in that post!) I love trying out new combinations and recipes using my favourite healthy ingredients. I tend to keep my cupboard stocked with dates and a collection of various nuts and seeds, along with my essentials – oats and honey, so I decided to mix them all together in this delicious muesli bar recipe.
These muesli bars have a dense, chewy texture punctuated with plenty of crunch from the nuts and seeds packed inside. Aside from the the roasting of the oats, nuts and seeds which adds a wonderful flavour, there is no baking required. Feel free to try out different variations of nuts and seeds and if you are not a fan of raisins simply replace them with chopped dried fruit or even dark chocolate chips… now there’s an idea!
The recipe makes fifteen bars (more if you cut them into squares) and thanks to the ingredients they are pretty filling – so a little goes a long way! They are ideal as a mid-afternoon pick me up snack or a home made lunchbox filler for the little ones, and sweetened naturally with dates and raw honey. Yes ma’am (or sir), you can’t go wrong with these scrumptious and brimming-with-goodness muesli bars.
A bit of news from Cupcakes and Couscous HQ – I’ll be out and about over the next few days! You can catch me live on The SABC3 Expresso Show this Friday morning when I will be making French onion soup. Keep an eye on my Facebook page for more details closer to the time.
And then this Saturday the 5th of May I will be at the Cape Town Ramadaan And Lifestyle Expo at the CTICC doing a live cooking demonstration, can’t wait! I will be making my dreamy chocolate mousse tart from 11.15am – 12pm and there will be a tasting opportunity… mmm, did someone say chocolate? If you are planning a visit to the Expo please come and say hi!
In the meantime, keep scrolling for today’s recipe. Enjoy!
Update: In July 2018 I made these delicious bars on the Expresso Show, you can watch the video below.
Cook’s notes:
- I used a sugar free peanut butter in the recipe. If you use a regular peanut butter your bars may be a bit sweeter.
- Replace the honey with brown rice syrup for vegan muesli bars.
- If you are raisin averse try replacing them with chopped dried apricots or pears.
DATE, SEED AND NUT MUESLI BARS
- 1 cup oats
- 100ml raw almonds (skin on), roughly chopped
- 1 tbsp chia seeds
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1 tbsp pumpkin seeds
- 200g pitted dates
- 20ml peanut butter (or nut butter of your choice)
- 20ml raw honey
- 3 tbsp raisins
1.) Preheat your oven to 180ºC and line a baking tray with baking paper. Put the kettle on to boil and line a 20cm square cake tin with plastic wrap.
2.) Combine the oats, almonds, chia seeds, sunflower seeds and pumpkin seeds in a bowl. Tip the mixture onto the baking tray and shake into an even layer. Toast in the oven for 15 minutes.
3.) Place the dates in a small bowl. Cover with boiling water and leave to soak and soften for 10 minutes.
4.) Drain the dates well and pop them in a food processor with the peanut butter and honey. Blitz until combined into a thick paste and transfer to a mixing bowl.
5.) Add the roasted oat and seed mixture to the date paste, along with the raisins. Mix well until everything is combined. The mixture will be thick and sticky.
6.) With slightly wet hands, press the mixture firmly into your prepared tin in an even layer. Cover and pop into the freezer for 30 minutes, or until firm enough to cut. Lift out of the tin and cut into bars or squares. Transfer the bars to the fridge and leave to set completely. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Cupcakes & Couscous 
Teresa, I’m a troglodyte with no proper mixer (I do have an electric beater though!!), so if I left out the dates, could I do the honey and peanut butter mixed by hand into the bowl with oats? Or will the peanut butter be to gunky?
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Hi Alex, you definitely want to include the dates as they hold everything together and add lovely sweetness to the bars. Don’t worry if you don’t have a food processor – simply soak the dates for a few extra minutes until they’re really soft and then mash them up with a fork before adding the rest of the ingredients. 😉
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