Why pay for industrially manufactured and marketed granola bars, when you can make these nut & seed date bars using only the ingredients your family trusts and loves?!

Use about a handful of pitted dates to about a handful of mixed (sprouted and dehydrated) nuts and seeds. You will have to experiment on the proportions.

You can also add some coconut flakes, sesame seeds, sunflower seeds, chocolate chips, cacao nibs — these do not need to be chopped down to size.

Chop larger seeds/nuts in a mini-chopper (such as almonds, pumpkin seeds, hazelnuts, cashews, hazelnuts, walnuts…)

Chop pitted dates in a mini-chopper until they form a ball of little pieces stuck together — they they will be better at holding the other ingredients.

Mix all ingredients together by hand in a large mixing bowl until it makes a kind of maleable ball of goodies. (This is typically my daughter’s job, as she eats the chocolate chips as she mixes….)

Place the ball (or half of it if it is big) between two 10×10-inch sheets of parchment paper and roll flat using a rolling pin. Roll the mixture out into about a 1/3 inch thick (bar depth) block.

Cut with a long knife into rows and then into 1 or 1.5 inch squares/bars. Tip: Roll up the parchment paper over the edges and press flat with the rolling pin so as to get a smooth edge, “glued” together by the dates.

The bars are potent, and a little bar goes a long way! Allow the bars to firm up in the refrigerator or freezer. Store the bars in glass in the freezer for freshness. Take them with you on hikes, as snacks, or dessert!

And now a small plug for my back to school lip balms to make going “back to school” fun: RAINBOW UNICORN! Made from pastured tallow and other natural, whole ingredients, in support of apiaries and regenerative farmers!