Healthy Date Slice {No Bake}

WARNING. This No Bake, Clean Eating Healthy Date Slice is highly addictive. You'll find yourself dreaming about the sweet, nutty, more-ishness of these healthy treats while you lie in bed at night. 

Healthy Date Slice

Somedays I find myself staring blankly into the fridge. Anyone watching would think I've lost my marbles.

But what I'm really doing is wondering whether I should add those last two date slice squares to the school lunchboxes. Or  should I tuck them behind the gigantic bunch of Silverbeat to save for my morning tea.

Mommy Moral Dilemmas. 

I'm not going to tell you what I did. But I am going to give you the recipe for this insanely irresistible NoBake Date Slice. 

If you've followed my blog for a while then you know I like to prep a weeks worth of lunchbox snacks in one go. I work on a two snack day, which always consists of: 

1. A fresh fruit or veggie (sometimes served with a dip)
2. Something I've baked or made (I can't really call it baked goods if I don't actually bake it )

These fall into the 'something I've made' box. Each family member gets one in their lunchbox. And I get the rest. I'm only kind of joking :)

Date Slice Ingredients

Ingredients you will need:

• Dates - Dried dates work just fine for this recipe. You don't need the fancier variety medjool dates but look for a variety with no added sugar or additives. If your dried dates are a little hard, then soak them for 5 - 10 minutes in boiling water to soften them. Drain the water before using.
• Almonds -Raw, unsalted
• Cashews - Raw, unsalted variety
• Sunflower Seeds - available at most supermarkets in the baking section
• Coconut - Unsweetened, either fine or roughly shredded works best.
• Peanut Butter - made with 100% peanuts. Nothing else.
• Cacao Powder- or unsweetened cocoa 
• Dark Choc Chips - these are optional, of course. I only add them after I've made the slice as I don't have to add too many to get the 'chocolate effect'. In my home, chocolate works like magic - rendering everything underneath it invisible.

Soaking The Dates

If you're using the regular dried dates (or trying to use up some rather sad, crusty lookin' ones from your stockpile pantry) then this is the recipe for it! Soak your dates in some boiling water for around 5 minutes to soften them up and breathe a little life into them. Then DRAIN (don't forget this part). 

Process

Pop all your ingredients into your food processor and whizz until they have broken up and start to feel a little sticky. 

I like my date slice to have a few crunchy bits, so I don't over process. Here is a close up of the texture I go for. You can still see bits of nut in there.

Baking Tray

Push your date and nut mixture firmly into the tray. I've used a basic loaf tray for mine as I like thicker pieces, but feel free to use a larger brownie bowl if you want thinner slices. I've worked my nutritional stats out on 12 portions. 

At this stage, you can also pop a few dark choc chips onto the top to decorate. Then refrigerate for an hour to set.

Cut into 12 Pieces

And sample a little piece ... obviously:)

Store in an airtight container in the fridge for up to 10 days. 

More Healthy Date Recipes

• Clean eating date paste
• Old fashioned date cookies
• Banana and date loaf
• Date and nut cookies
• No bake Lamingtons

How To Make A Healthy Date Slice

Ingredients

• 2 cup Dates 160g, 6oz
• ½ cup Almonds Raw, unsalted
• ½ cup Cashews Raw, unsalted
• ¼ cup Sunflower seeds
• ½ cup Coconut Shredded
• 2 tbls Peanut Butter 100% peanuts
• 2 tbls Cacao Powder
• 1 tbls Coconut Oil melted, if needed

Instructions

• Soak dates in boiling water for 5 minutes to soften. Drain water.
• Process all ingredients in the food processor until they form a sticky, chunky texture. This could take 2 -4 minutes depending on your food processor and dates. Process until muxture reaches the consistency you're looking for. I like my slice to still have a little texture so I don't process until overly smooth. To test whether your slice is ready -pinch a little of the mixture together.It should stick together well.Add melted coconut oil if mixture is too dry.
• Transfer your mixture to shallow bowl or baking dish lined with baking paper and press firmly into the dish.
• OPTIONAL: press some choc chips onto the top of your slice
• Refrigerate for 1 hour until set.
• Cut into bars or squares.

Date Slice Recipe