No-cook fruity bars

These are really easy to make – just mix everything together, whack them in the freezer and you’ve got a handy, healthy snack for when the hunger pangs get too much. Feel free to adapt the recipe as you like. You can use all dates instead of adding other dried fruit or stir in a couple of spoonfuls of cocoa powder if you fancy something a bit chocolatey. Yum!

Info

Calories
205 per serving

Ingredients

Makes 20 squares

  • 25g nuts (any sort – cashews or peanuts work well)
  • 400g dried pitted dates
  • 200g other dried fruit (figs, apricots, raisins, prunes)
  • juice of 1 orange (if needed)
  • 400g porridge oats
  • 50g dessicated coconut
  • 1 tsp cinnamon (optional)
  • 50g mixed seeds (pumpkin, sunflower or sesame)

Method

  1. Line a 20cm square baking tin with cling film.

  2. Put the nuts in a food processor and blitz them for a second or two until they’re roughly chopped. Tip them into a bowl and set aside.

  3. Put the dried fruit in the food processor and pulse until the fruit has broken down into a sticky mass, stopping to push the mixture down regularly. If your processor is struggling to cope, add orange juice very gradually, to help – you shouldn’t need much of it.

  4. Mix the porridge oats and dessicated coconut together with the cinnamon, if using. Add this to the mixture a third at a time, continuing to pulse and push the mixture down, until everything is combined. Add the seeds and the chopped nuts at the end and pulse a couple of times to combine rather than break the mixture up further.

  5. Press the mixture into the prepared tin as evenly as you can, making sure it gets pushed well into the corners, then pop it in the freezer for 15–20 minutes until firm. Remove from the freezer and cut into 20 squares, then store in the fridge until needed.