Fruit & Nut Energy Bars | No Cook No Sugar Energy Bars

Imagine having a little treat to yourself after a tiring work-out – I am talking about energy bars that too made at home. I have been intrigued by energy bars ever since I tasted one a couple of years ago. As with many recipes, I made a mental note to try making them at home. I looked at a couple of recipes, that called for rice Krispies and having never seen or heard about them, I put out the idea of making energy bars at home.

When Lina first talked about the Recipe Exchange Challenge, I so wanted to take part. I submitted my Shahi Tukra recipe and waited with bated breath for the other recipe entries to be made. While all the recipes sounded super tasty, I wanted something egg-less and that’s when I saw Zeba’s Raw Caramel and Walnut Bar recipe. I knew I had to pick it up as soon as I saw the recipe and her beautiful pictures. Zeba used Raw Cacao powder along with coconut oil and raw walnuts + almonds to create wonderful bars that would put any store bought stuff to shame. I was however a little worried as I have never spotted raw cacao powder anywhere in stores here. Same with coconut nectar. Lina and Zeba were very sweet to let me make some modifications to the original recipes and hence, here am I with it 😀 I used the ingredients that I had handy and converted the three layered bar into two layers. So it’s not exactly a raw caramel and walnut bar but instead dry fruit and nut high energy bar. I loved Zeba’s idea of using honey in the place of sugar and coconut oil in the place of butter. The bars turned out super yumm –they are chewy, tasty and a lot healthier than a piece of chocolate.

Note –

• Walnuts can be used in the place of cashews.
• I did not use raw dates but processed ripe dates for the ease of making. Soaking time may vary depending upon the type of dates used.
• Rice Krispies or coconut flakes would add to the crunch element. I couldn’t find them while trying these and these still turned out great.
• Adjust the quantity of honey as per sweetness required.
• I did not add much coconut oil expect for greasing unlike Zeba’s recipe. Feel free to increase it if required.
• Be careful with the orange juice. Too much of it can make the mix quite watery.
• Adjust cocoa powder as per liking.

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I am taking these high energy bars to Fiesta Friday #110 at Angie’s. Hope the co-hosts for this week Jhuls @ The Not So Creative Cook and Apsara @ Eating Well Diary would love these as much as I did 🙂