If you are wondering what the hell a raw bar is, it is a snack that is made according to raw food principles; all un cooked natural ingredients. I got hooked on chocolate raw bars when I was pregnant and since they are pretty much the perfect snack (or sweets) I consume quite a lot of them still. And since they are rather expensive to buy I have been trying out variations of my own. Although all raw sweets are ridiculously expensive to make at home too, all those fancy nuts and super food ingredients… Most that are grown on the other side of the world. Sometimes I even get annoyd at maca this and lucuma that. Not that I don't think that those so called "super foods" wouldn't be good for you - but do I really need a root from Peru in my snack bar? We can get true superfoods over here too; the berries that grow in our woods!
So, this is a how-to for healthy snack bars with blue berries. (And some stuff from the other side of the world too.) Being able to make the perfect raw bar in setup and consistence is not easy and I get different results every time, sometimes they turn out too mud cake like (nothing wrong with that, but I don't always want them to feel like candy), sometimes too nutty, sometimes too moist. I usually always use raw cocoa or raw chocolate, but in this version I'm just going for a purple berry bar, chocolate free.
Use about one part dates and one part nuts. And some seeds of your choice.
I took mostly cashews, plus some almonds and hazel- and para nuts (next time I'll go for this without the para nuts though) and linen seeds (from our farm, keeping up the local theme). Put the seeds and nuts in water to soak for a little while, about ten minutes is enough.
If the dates are fresh you don't need to soak them, but as I used very dry ones I had them in water over night.
Then you'll need this: blueberry powder, as in dried and ground blueberries! I've also done this with dried blueberries which turns out great, even better perhaps, but then again you'll need a lot and that is really not to be considered everyday luxury as the price per kilo is quite scary for such.
I have a small blending bullet for this which fits about half a handful at the time, and for such an amount of dates and nuts I put one tea spoon of blueberry powder.
So, then you mash it all in your blender/mixer/bullet and put the mix in a bowl. You can sweeten it with honey or agave if you like, but for me the dates makes it sweet enough. Add some cold pressed coconut oil. I also put in some hemp seeds as they taste great .
Flatten the paste out in a mold and put in the fridge for at least a few hours before eating. If the mix feels very moist you can dry it in the oven on very low heat for a while before storing cold.
Cut into bars and store them in a plastic box in the fridge. They will stay fresh about up to 4-5 days. I out half of mine in the fridge.
These make a perfect breakfast or light lunch -which for me nowadays most often are the same thing- together with a smoothie (and some nice magazines).
