All natural ingredients, wheat free, dairy free and no added sugars

I love making homemade cereal bars, nutty granola bars, flapjacks and various slices for times when my energy levels are teetering on the edge.

For me, these are perfect; they’re cheap and you can make a decent batch in around 10 minutes – no serious elbow grease required. Secondly, they’re all completely natural and nutritious. This is good to know following recent news that some so-called ‘healthy’ cereal bars contain 40% sugar.

Always bake your own if you ask me!

Ingredients

Makes 8 – 10 individual servings

• 150g cashew nuts, dry roasted*
• 200g pitted dates
• 1 tbsp cocoa powder
• 1 tsp ground cinnamon
• 3/4 tsp ground ginger
• 2 tsps vanilla extract
• 2 tbsp boiling water
• a pinch of salt

*On roasting: aim to roast the nuts for around 15 minutes at 150C

Directions

• Combine the nuts and dates in a food processor and pulse until a grainy mixture is formed  
• Tip in the powdered spices, cocoa, salt and vanilla extract; pulse again
  
• The mixture may appear too ‘grainy’ i.e. dry – if so, add the 2 tbsp of boiling water to make a sticky mixture.
• Once the desired consistency is reached tip the mixture out into a flat dish or Tupperware box lined with cling film or baking parchment. Press down and chill in the fridge for 30 minutes. 
• Remove from fridge, slice into small servings and dig in!
• See also: Peanut butter and date flapjacks