I call them “Miracle” date bars because:
a) Dates are full of iron and are proven to help shorten your labour and avoid inductions (and trust me, if you can shave an hour or two off of your labour and/or avoid an induction you will think it is a miracle). See the study here.
b) They are extremely filling, and if you are breastfeeding postpartum you may find yourself hungrier than you have ever been in your life and with no time for food prep, so having some of these on hand will feel like a miracle!
c) Because they are so dense, protein packed and (did I mention) filling, they are the perfect quick food for doulas and partners to take to long births in case you get hungry while waiting for your little miracle to join us earthside.
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Ingredients
375g package of date paste (I use Ziyad), at room temperature
250g (1 and 3/4 cups- or use 2 cups, this isn’t rocket science) of nuts of your choice, roasted (or nut “flour”)
4 tbsp of dark cocoa powder
2 tbsp of chia or teff seeds (optional)
*other additions such as very finely chopped dried fruit, dried coconut, goji berries or cocoa nibs.
This is a basic recipe with which you can get drastically different results depending on what combinations you use. My favourite combinations: almonds (or cashews) with cocoa nibs; walnuts with prunes; peanuts with goji berries and raisins (“trail mix” style).
1) Very lightly oil the bottom of a flat baking tray, roughly 5 by 8. (It doesn’t matter if your tray is too big, you don’t need to cover the whole bottom of it with the date bars).
2) Coarsely grind or finely chop the nuts. They need to be finely textured enough so that they help hold the bars together, if the chunks are too big the bars will crumble apart. I usually use a magic bullet type thing, which makes fine crumbs of most of the nuts but leaves some others whole, I then either chop them finely or just leave them. Do be careful not to go too far with your blending or you will end up with nut butter (which is not a huge problem, just not suitable for this recipe).
3) Put the dates, nuts and other ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Knead it together until it is a uniform mass. (This is the longest part of the recipe)!
4) Press the mixture into the bottom of the baking tray (but don’t bake!). I usually aim to make them the size of a granola bar, so about 1.5 to 2 cm thick, but you can also make squares or even balls. Cut/roll into the desired size. If desired, you can press/roll them in coconut or cocoa, but this is messier to eat. (If you have a little one who takes up all your time, you can also just leave it in the mixing bowl and wander by every so often to make a ball for immediate consumption). It is really whatever suits you at that particular moment… as you can see I say “bars” but clearly posted a picture of balls.
Storage and travel: You can store them in a tupperware with parchment paper between the layers for about 1 week at room temperature, 2 weeks in the fridge (they don’t go bad after that, they just start to absorb fridge odours) or for long-term storage in the freezer (this has never happened to me, they never last that long). I usually wrap mine up in squares of parchment paper or re-useable beeswax cloth wrap if I am going to be eating them out.
Note: The texture of the date paste is of key importance! It should be like play-dough. If you can only get date paste that you can cut into slices, slice it finely and simmer it gently with water, stirring and mashing until it is a workable consistency. In a real pinch, you can also do this simmer technique with pitted pieces of dates, but it will unfortunately turn the recipe into one that is quick and easy into one that is more labour intensive. I usually find my date paste at North African or Middle Eastern shops.
