Holiday season is long over now, but that doesn’t mean we cannot enjoy a few good treats. Today I am sharing with you my simple and delicious Almonds Dates & Oats Bar. This is gluten free and vegan, in case you care. This is a dessert that is loved by many and I hope you too will soon love it once you tried it.

There are 3 major parts of this dessert. 3 simple layers that you can easily make in less than 1 hour. Let’s have a look.

Almond and Oats Crust:

The main base for the bar is a delicious nutty crust made with oat flour and almond flour. It was sweetened with brown sugar for extra moisture and binded with coconut oil instead of butter. If you are do not care about making this vegan, you can use dairy butter or vegan butter if you want to stay vegan. I love the nuttiness of this crust from the almond flour.

Dates Filling

For the filling, we are going for a simple date filling. That is a pureed dates flavored wih orange zest and softened with orange juice. No sugar or sweetner added as dates are already sweet by nature. For a smoother filling, use a food processor. If you do not have one, simmer it until soft and mush it with a fork.

Toppings

Fo the toppings, I used my vegan Crisp Toppings. I love making this ahad of time to save some prep time and also for use in other baking. This is simply a combination of crumbled almond flour and rolled oats, sweetned with male syrup and binded with coconut oil. You can use this for

• quick bread like banana bread
• muffin
• breakfast cake
• crumb bars
• oatmeal
• yogurt
• for banana foster topping

Customizable

This recipe is very customizable. If you do not like dates filling, you can fill it with jam of your choice. Pineapple, Blueberry, Raspberry, Apple, Peach just to name a few. You can also add vegan melted dark chocolate with the dates and make it a chocolate dates filling. Perhaps more chopped nuts would be nice too.

This bar is yours to enjoy so be creative and do as you pease.

Ingredients:

Date Filling:

• 3/4 cup  (100 grams) pitted Medjool Dates
• 1/4 cup (60 ml) Orange Juice or Water
• 1/2 teaspoon pure Vanilla Extract
• zest of 1 large Orange

Oatmeal Crust:

• 1 cup Almond Flour
• 1/2 cup Oats Flour
• 1/4 cup Brown Sugar
• 1/2 tsp Baking Powder
• 1/4 tsp Baking Soda
• 1/4 tsp Salt
• 1/4 cup Coconut Oil

Toppings:

• 1 cup Almond Flour ( for non-gluten free option: can be substituted with all-purpose flour)
• 1 cup Gluten free Rolled Oats  (for non-gluten free option: use regular rolled oats)
• 3 tablespoon Honey or Maple Syrup (for vegan option)
• 5 tablespoon Coconut Oil (or butter for non vegan option)
• 1/2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
• 1/4 teaspoon Salt
• 1/3 cup chopped Pecans or Sliced Almonds or combination of both

Instructions:

Date Filling

1. Place the pitted dates and orange juice in a medium saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring occasionally, until the dates are soft and have absorbed most of the water (about 5 – 10 minutes). Remove from heat and stir in the vanilla extract. Let cool to room temperature and then puree in your food processor until fairly smooth (a few lumps are fine). Alternatively, you can also use it as is if you like few chunks.

Oatmeal Crust:

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Butter (or use a non stick cooking spray) a 9 inch (23 cm) loaf baking pan. Line the bottom of the pan with parchment or wax paper.
2. In the bowl of your food processor, place the oats flour, almond flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt. Pulse to combine. Pour the coconut oil and pulse until the mixture is crumbly and just begins to come together. If the mixture is still too loose to clump, add a bit more coconut oil.
3. Divide the crust into 2 portions. Cover the bottom of the pan with half of the portion, press until even. Chill in the freezer for 15 minutes. Spread the dates mixture evenly then cover the top with remaining half of the almond and oats mixture. Sprinkle with 1/2 cup of the toppings. Lightly press, then chill for another 15 minutes in the freezer.
4. Bake at pre-heated oven 350F and bake for  18 – 20 minutes or until the crust turns brown. The crust brown easy to keep an eye on it.

Toppings:

1. Make the Crisp Topping: In a large mixing bowl, mix together the Almond flour, rolled oats, maple syrup, coconut oil, vanilla extract, salt and chopped nuts. Mix until combined.
2. Transfer in a container: Fill jars or airtight containers 3/4 full and top with a lid, label and freeze. Do not packed it, this will make it easier to shake to loosen it up when you are ready to use. I like to fill the container only 3/4 full so allow some space for shaking.
3. Storage: Keep for 3 days in the refrigerator or in the freezer for 2 -3 months. No need to thaw when ready to use. For longer than 3 days, it is best to keep it in the freezer so that it wouldn’t accumulated moisture which can make the crisp or crumble topping soggy and wet.

Featured Posts:

• Strawberry Crumb Bar
• Pina Colada Crumb Bar
• Small Batch Apple Crumb Bars (Makes 4)
• Small Batch Blueberry Crumb Bars
• Almond Shortbread Bar
• Raspberry Jam
• Vegan Blueberry Lemon Crumb Bar

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