You have to try these! I adopted this recipe from Deb Perelman’s The Smitten Kitchen Cookbook. She calls these breakfast bars, but I’m not sure I’d want to eat them for breakfast. I think they are much better suited for snacking. They are a sweet treat for sure. They’re naturally sweetened with dates and honey. The orange zest adds a really nice flavor to these bars. Kids and adults will love them. They are a snap to throw together.

Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cooking Time: 18 – 22 minutes
Yield: 16 bars

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped dried pitted dates (I use a food processor to chop the dates – they’re very sticky)
• 1 1/4 cups rolled oats
• 3 tablespoons barley or whole wheat flour
• 1/3 cup wheat germ
• 1/2 cup finely chopped raw almonds (I use a food processor to chop the almonds. If you want chunkier pieces of almonds, chop them with a knife)
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1/4 cup almond butter
• 1/4 cup olive oil
• 1/4 cup honey
• 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated orange zest
• 1/4 teaspoon almond extract

Directions: 

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Line an 8x8x2 inch pan with parchment paper.
2. Stir together the dates, oats, flour, wheat germ, almonds, salt, and cinnamon in a large bowl.
3. In a separate, smaller bowl, whisk together the almond butter, olive oil, honey, orange zest, and almond extract until smooth.
4. Pour the wet ingredients over the dry mixture and stir them together until the dry ingredients are evenly coated.
5. Spread the batter in the prepared pan, pressing the batter firmly into the bottom, edges, and corners.
6. Bake the bars for 18 – 22 minutes, until they’re brown around the edges.
7. Cool the bars in their pan placed on a cooling rack (you can also remove the bars from the pan after about 20 minutes by lifting up the parchment paper and placing them directly on the rack – this will cool them faster).
8. Once they’re cool, use a serrated knife to cut the bars into squares. If they’re too crumbly to cut into squares, put them in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.

Note: I keep the bars stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator. They also freeze well.