Saturday 10 January 2009

Date and Apricot Health Bars Recipe


This recipe is so very simple to bake.

There is a reason that I love the combination of dried apricots and dates together. When they cook they turn into natures very own soft toffee - in texture and in taste. They are healthy and are naturally very sweet.

Unsulphured apricots are the only apricots I use in most recipes. They are brown in colour like the dates rather than the bright orange colour of the dried apricots that contain preservatives. The flavour of an unsulphured apricot is very different in taste to the standard dried apricots.

My date and apricot bars are not only really tasty to eat but they are so healthy to eat.

I only use one ounce of brown sugar in this recipe, I use date syrup for extra sweetness and that combined with the cooked dates and apricots make into a very special sweet treat to eat.

Dates and apricots contain lots of vitamins and minerals such as Vitamin A, C, E and Iron.

I use rice flour in this recipe so it is a gluten free date bar recipe as well as being egg freedairy free it is a vegan date bar recipe.

You do not have to feel guilty after eating one of my date and apricot bars!
and



Ingredients for Date and Apricot Bars

4oz Dates
4oz Dried apricots (unsulphured)
100ml Soya milk
4 Tbsp Rapeseed oil or other flavourless vegetable oil
1oz Light brown Muscovado sugar
3oz Rice flour
1/2 tsp Vanilla essence
1/2 tsp Baking powder
2 Large Tbsp Date syrup



How to make Chef Jeenas Date and Apricot Health Bars


Place soya milk, rice flour, oil, vanilla, baking powder and sugar into a bowl and mix very well.



Once it has mixed into a creamy batter add the dates, apricots and date syrup.

Mix very well.



Pour into a bowl and cover with plastic wrap.

Place into a fridge for 30 minutes.



Grease and flour a baking tray.

Pour the mixture onto the tray and spread out evenly.

Place into a hot oven at 200C for 7-10 minutes.



You can cook this mixture as cookies if desired.



Once cooked leave to stand for a few minutes then remover from the tray onto a cooling rack. If it it too big to remover slice into four then remove each piece to the rack.

If you made cookies remove them instantly.



Once the date and apricots health bars are fully cool slice into squares and enjoy.


19 comments:

Erica said...

WoW! These look like brownies. I must (sadly) say that I think I have only had sulphured apricots. When I am at WF's next week, I plan to look for the unsulphured variety. I find that I enjoy the taste of unsulphured dry fruit much more than their evil sulphured counterparts. Hope you are enjoying your weekend!

Rosa's Yummy Yums said...

Real energy bars! Very healthy and delicious looking!

Cheers,

Rosa

Jersey Girl Cooks said...

Wow, these look great. I love how you say they taste like soft toffee...yum.

Yasmeen said...

I have some unused rice flour and lot of dry fruits to try these deliciously healthy bars:)

Cynthia said...

Ouuuu, healthy never looked this good before :)

Sum Raj said...

happy new year to u too jeena..dates nd apricot bars looks super dubber hit dessert...looks divine..

Anonymous said...

That look absolutely yummy Jeena :).
I don't seem to be able to find pure natural soy milk in my area. Most supermarkets sell those with added stuff and has strange flavour. I might need to find in vegan shop.
Thanks for sharing this ( :) Nellie)

Seena said...

Nice one, as usual my expert baker! :)
how r u, how was new year holidays?
happy new year to you , Jeena! :)

Anonymous said...

Hey, I love the photography on this post,. You should join one of the food photography groups on flickr!

Katherine Roberts Aucoin said...

These look so fantastic. I had no idea the combination of peaches and dates tasted like toffee. I am going to give these a try.

jesse said...

Wowwww, these look chewy and delicious! I can't believe they're healthy as well. Kudos to you!

Anonymous said...

Those look wonderful! I haven't heard of date syrup. Where do you get it and is there a suitable substitute?

RecipeGirl said...

Date syrup might be challenging to find... any ideas for a sub? Otherwise, these look like quite a nice treat!

Navita (Gupta) Hakim said...

great dish...love dates


hi first time here...n m already sure i will be back for more ;p

m new to blogosphere, 3 months old...so wud love it if u cud stop by sometime :)

Paula said...

Jeena, I just love your recipes! These date and apricot bars look so decadent ... like brownies! I never knew that about dried apricots! I've only used the orangy looking ones, I'll have to keep a lookout for the other kind. Another GREAT gluten free recipe from you! YUM!

Bharti said...

Those look great Jeena. I was looking for a good bar, I'll try this out when I get apricots next.

Dibs said...

Hello Jeena - You have an amazing blog. I tried making hash browns from your blog earlier, and they came out really well! I have some fruits and nuts and didn't know what to do with them. I guess I will just make some heatlh bars now !

Noor said...

These look really nice. I have soo many dates leftover from Eid and need lots of date recipes. Do you have anymore?

test it comm said...

Those look really good! I like the idea of baking with dates and apricots like this.