These Date and Hazelnut Bars were originally inspired by the chocolate hazelnut CLIF bar that I picked up during my last California visit. And you know me, if I love a product, I am super eager to recreate it at home. Although they are not exactly a CLIF bar, they taste absolutely amazing!
Plus, they are as healthy as they can be. These Date and Hazelnut Bars are entirely sugarfree, they only use natural dates as a sweetener. Palmyra Delights had send me some samples of their date product range which I put at good use here. I did eat a lot of dates in the past but they were usually the medjool ones. I was so impressed what are wide range dates that are out there differing so much in flavor, softness and sweetness. The Sukari date (which is perfect for these bars) tastes like soft caramel in itself. But for the filling I did blend them with hazelnut butter.
So if you could have not guessed by now, these bars are all about the filling. It tastes like creamy hazelnut nougat heaven. And with only 2 ingredients: dates and hazelnut butter. Seriously, if you are ever planning to recreate just one thing from this blog, go and blend dates with hazelnut butter. I swear, you will not regret it.
*If you are curious about the different dates and would love to try different dates, make sure to check out Palyra’s website. Since I have teamed up with them, you receive get 15% of their date selection with the code Nic15
To give the bars these chocolate sized shapes I used a flexible silicone mold. These just make the whole process super easy. In saying that you could also use a lined brownie or loaf tin. Layer the oat basis followed by the hazelnut date filling finished with a vegan dark chocolate glaze.
Date and Hazelnut Crunch Bars
Ingredients
Bars
- 2 cups oat flour (ground oats)
- 1.5 cups pitted dates I used Sukari soft
- 3/4 cup water
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 5 drops essential Tonka Bean oil optional
Filling
- 2 cups pitted dates I used Sukari soft
- 1 cup water
- 1/2 cup hazelnut butter
Instructions
- In a blender mix the dates and water until fully combined. Add the salt and the essential oil. Lastly, add theoat flour. Remove the dough from the blender and tramnsfer to a bowl. Chill in the fridge while preparing the filling.
- For the filling, blend all ingredients until well combined.
- Remove the dough from the fridge, press into the bottom and sides of the molds using your hands. Spoon in the filling leaving a bit of space. Freeze for 1 hour. Using a teaspoon of dough to close each bar.
For more healthy sugarfree treats make sure to check out: sugarfree Brownie with Caramel Frosting, Deluxe Chocolate Granola Bars, my Peanut Butter Chocolate Bars, or my Nougat Caramel Bars!