Name: No-Bake Salted Chocolate Energy Bars
Total time: 30 min
Yield: 12 bars
Ingredients: 10 medjool dates (pitted and roughly chopped); 50 g cashews (roasted and roughly chopped); 50 g pistachios (roughly chopped); 50 g gluten-free crisped rice (or rice krispies); 2 tablespoons sesame seeds; 2 tablespoons chia seeds; 1 tablespoon ground flaxseed; 2 tablespoons coconut oil (melted); 50 g almond butter; ½ teaspoon vanilla extract; ½ teaspoon salt; 175 g dark chocolate; 1 tablespoon coconut oil; 1/8 teaspoon salt; 1/8 teaspoon salt

No-Bake Salted Chocolate Energy Bars

These No-Bake Salted Chocolate Energy Bars are perfectly designed for exhausted parents, busy careerists, post work-out keep fitters and demanding children of any age and if none of the above apply and you just need a little chocolate pick-me-up then these bars will suit your needs perfectly too.

I have never eaten so many energy bars as I have these past 14 months. They were my lifeline during 3am night-feeds; they have seen me through endless walks with baby and dog; I eat them in lieu of breakfast, lunch or dinner and if Cole suddenly decides to have a full throttle meltdown when I won’t let him play with the washing machine buttons mid-cycle then they are the most effective pacifier for both mum and toddler.

I have tried so many energy bars out there and am constantly disappointed by most of them to provide me with a nutritious, satisfying, all-natural snack that can be eaten when you simply don’t have the time or the inclination for anything remotely challenging.

I have been trying to wean myself off these bars to no avail. I am hungry and lacklustre a lot of the time at the moment and energy bars keep my sanity (well that’s a bit of an overstatement, they do their best poor things but at this stage in the game I’m a bit of a lost cause).

So basically I figured that if you can’t beat them, join them and I’ve invented my own. These little beauties amalgamate all the best bits from other energy bars into one happy and health-conscious bar. They are a treat, of course they are as there is chocolate involved, but there is no refined sugar, no gluten, no dairy and most importantly they are bursting with protein to up your mood and see you through the tough part of your day.

The no-bakeness of them means that they are a breeze to make, there is no more effort than a minimal amount of chopping, a dash of soaking, a quick blast in the food processor followed by a bit of mixing, some setting (the bit where you can take a break and watch some tv, entertain a baby, answer a few emails) then some melting, pouring and a last bit of setting (go for a run, make a cup of tea, empty the dishwasher) then eating. If I can make these in the evening ready for the next day then you can be sure they are easy peasy lemon squeezy as I’m simply fit for nothing after Cole has been lullabied to sleep.

Bring on the energy bars!!

No-Bake Salted Chocolate Energy Bars

These No-Bake Salted Chocolate Energy Bars are the perfect pick-me-up, using only natural ingredients, no refined sugar, no gluten, no dairy for the ultimate salty-sweet treat

Prep Time

30 minutes

Passive Time

2 hours

Servings

12 bars

Ingredients

10 medjool dates pitted and roughly chopped
50 g cashews roasted and roughly chopped
50 g pistachios roughly chopped
50 g gluten-free crisped rice or rice krispies
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons coconut oil melted
50 g almond butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
175 g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon salt

Prep Time

30 minutes

Passive Time

2 hours

Servings

12 bars

Ingredients

10 medjool dates pitted and roughly chopped
50 g cashews roasted and roughly chopped
50 g pistachios roughly chopped
50 g gluten-free crisped rice or rice krispies
2 tablespoons sesame seeds
2 tablespoons chia seeds
1 tablespoon ground flaxseed
2 tablespoons coconut oil melted
50 g almond butter
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
175 g dark chocolate
1 tablespoon coconut oil
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/8 teaspoon salt

Instructions

Line and grease a 20cm square tin.
Place the dates in a small bowl with 75ml boiling water, stirring to make sure they are evenly submerged. Leave to half an hour to soak.
Meanwhile mix the cashews, pistachios, crisped rice, sesame seeds, chia seeds and ground flaxseed in a large bowl.
When the dates have finished soaking pour them, with their soaking water, into a food processor along with the coconut oil, almond butter, vanilla extract and salt and blend until smooth.
Pour over the nuts and seeds until everything is evenly mixed.
Press the mixture into the tin so that it is nice and even on top then place in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
Melt the chocolate, coconut oil and salt in the bain marie, then pour over the set nuts and seeds and spread out evenly with a palette knife.
Place back in the fridge for at least an hour to set.
Remove from the fridge and cut into bars.

Recipe Notes

When you line your tin, bring the baking parchment all the way up the sides to make it ultra easy to remove the bars from the tin after the final set.
I recommend keeping your bars in the fridge to keep their perfect consistency. They should last up to 10 days but it’s unlikely they will.

Energy Boosting Snack Ideas – FREE PDF!

If you need more inspiration of energy boosting snacks to get your through your in between meal slumps then you can download my free PDF with 9 more ideas featuring exclusive content and also my favourite energy boosting recipes from the website. To access this amazing PDF you just need to click the link below!!

Raw Cranberry and Nut Energy Bars

I make no bones about it, these energy bars have been shamelessly ripped from the Nakd bar. I was completely reliant on Nakd bars when I worked as a TV Producer. I was either too busy to have breakfast so I grabbed one of these, maybe I had edits that ran over lunch so I kept going by pulling one of these out of my bag, or I was working late which meant that dinner was pushed until I got home at some heinous hour and my Nakd bars would once again save the day. I always had heaps of them crammed into my desk drawer, handbag and coat pockets.

Since I’ve been working from home, I haven’t found the need to rely so much on shop bought snacks, there is usually cake around or I’m recipe testing so I can munch on a bit of whatever I’m cooking or baking. Can you tell I was a bit more diet conscious when I wasn’t slouching around in tracky bums, baggy t-shirts and slippers all day.

Well, I’m upping the health factor in my life at the moment, making sure I achieve my 5-a-day, consume my 700mg of calcium and perhaps not rely on chocolate to fill the spare five minutes I have whilst waiting for the kettle to boil. With healthy eating comes healthy snacking so although I won’t rely on these bars like I used to it’s incredibly handy having something in that I can have if I need a sugar or protein hit. If I’m going for a long walk with Billy Buddy then I find that one of these is absolutely perfect for my dipping energy if I’m getting pulled around by an excitable little dog.

Having exhausted all the flavours of Nakd bars during my obsession with them I always wanted to give them a go myself, after all there is only about four ingredients listed on the back of the packets. I should have carved out time to do this years ago, as they were one of the easiest things to prepare. If you own a food mixer then that’s all you need to whizz up the ingredients before you press into a tin, refrigerate and then cut into bars.

When I set about making these I didn’t have any particular plan in mind other than I wanted to use up some of my dried cranberries; I severely overestimated how many I would need over Christmas and my larder is overrun with them. I love cranberry and macadamia together and then found buried in the back the remains of a packet of macadamias which hadn’t gone out of date yet – score! There weren’t quite enough nuts so I amped up the quantity by substituting almonds. I also added dates which are the main ingredient in any Nakd bar to bind the bars together, I used plump sticky medjool dates to add juiciness and deeper flavour. There are more dates than cranberries in this recipe but the dates add the background note whilst the overriding zingy flavour is of the cranberries. I couldn’t resist adding a tablespoon of freeze dried raspberry powder either for more berry flavour.

They worked out better than expected. The raspberry powder lifts the whole bar so it tastes fresher somehow. You can get raspberry powder from Father Christmas when he puts it in your stocking to open on Christmas morning or if you weren’t quite as lucky as I was then it’s easy enough to buy online.

These bars should keep for about a week in the fridge but you could also double the quantity I’ve suggested here and stick them in the freezer so you have lots to keep you going. I made mine in a smaller quantity of eight so I can move onto another flavour when these are done.

Raw Cranberry and Nut Energy Bars

Makes about 8

180g medjool dates, pitted
75g dried cranberries
75g macadamia nuts
50g blanched almonds
1 tablespoon freeze dried raspberry powder

Place all the ingredients in a food mixer and whizz up together for a few minutes until the nuts have completely ground into the dried fruit. It should come together into a sticky ball.
Tip the fruity nuttiness into a rectangular baking tin lined with cling film so that the cling film hangs generously over the side of the tin.
Press the mixture into the tin so the surface is completely even, then wrap the cling film back over the top to protect it.
Place in the fridge for a couple of hours to firm up then remove the cling filmed mixture from the tin. Peel off the cling film and cut into evenly sized bars.
Wrap each bar back up individually in cling film or baking parchment then store in the fridge for about a week or keep in the freezer.

SHOP THE RECIPE

Here is the raspberry powder I used for this recipe.
Freeze Dried Raspberry Powder 150g
Some of the links above are affiliate links, which pay me a small commission for my referral at no extra cost to you! Thank you for supporting From The Larder