Date-Nut Energy Bites: The perfect on-the-go snack!
Beach days after junior-guards, Road-trips around So-Cal and our upcoming, long-awaited flight to Michigan for the rest of our 2021 family reunification plans inspired us to make our good-old, Date-Nut energy bites this weekend. We used to take these on-the-go when the kids were wee-little ones for “hangry prevention”; for outdoor hiking and beach trips; and now as an “easy-to-pop-in-our-mouths-under-our-masks” snack while in-flight! (That last one was a mouthful!)
My children have always loved preparing them as well, which has made it even more likely that they would EAT them! Kids and adults enjoy these and often times we add them to our cheeseboards! There are also so many variations you can customize based on any nut allergies.
Our Favorite Ingredients:
Pitted Medjool Dates (room temperature)
Pistachios
Cashews
Unsweetened coconut flakes
Sea Salt flakes
Directions:
Pit your dates.
Throw the nuts into the food processor first. After the nuts are chopped pretty small, add the pitted dates and process. The mixture will eventually get sticky and turn into a balled up mass/mess. Depending on your food processor size and strength, you might want to do the nuts first and remove; then process the dates and add the chopped nuts back in.
Once it looks decently mushed and mashed up together, place on parchment paper. Place another sheet of parchment on top of the mass. You can smash it down with your hands over the parchment so you don’t end up with sticky hands.
Now that you have mashed it down by hand, use a rolling pin to roll the mass out flat and as thin as you prefer.
Sprinkle coconut flakes and sea salt flakes. Place the parchment back on top and roll a couple more times to get the flakes to stick.
Cut to the size or shape you desire (use fun cookie cutters for kids too!). In the alternative to rolling into bars, you can also make balls which are fun for kids too. Just pinch of sections, roll them in your hands and then roll them on to some of the coconut/sea salt flakes. Annika likes bar bites; Xander likes the ball bites. So we usually take the messy edges that didn’t turn into pretty bars and roll those into the balls.
Note: that if your mixture is really warm, and hard to shape, chill in the refrigerator for 20-30 minutes and then cut or form into balls.
Easy, Salty, Sweet & Chewy!
A note about ingredients:
Dates and pistachios are a match made in heaven. Cashews add a soft, nice crunch and are easy to mix with the dates. We have tried almonds before but I don’t recommend using them unless you are adding some almond flour or have soaked and peeled the almonds first. We have other nut allergies in the house so we avoid hazelnuts, pecans, and walnuts, but I imagine all of those would be as scrumptious as a bakhlava! I may try macadamia next time too!
Hope you enjoy these pre-workout, during trips and travel, or in your lunchbox!