Fitter Feature - Ceri Jones

Fuelling my early Fitter London starts..

So…. Thanks to Keris I seem to have a developed an addiction to various snacky Raw bars (9Bars, Nakd, Trek etc) and was spending rather a lot on buying them, not to mention trawling London finding stockists! This got me thinking that they really couldn’t be that difficult to make

as the ingredients lists are so simple (basically nuts, seeds and dried fruit). Also as I hate peanuts (which along with new potato skins are the only foods in the world I can’t stomach) it’s been

difficult finding raw bars I like. Rather a lot of google searches and studying the back of Nakd bars later, and hey presto I came up with a recipe. The good news is that they really are that easy to make, they only contain natural ingredients and there are endless combinations of flavours to experiment with. The bad news is that they taste so good applying portion control

takes an awful lot of self discipline.

So here’s a simple guide to some bars I made last weekend. This week I’ve been eating them as

I run out of the door at 6.30am to fuel up my early 7am Fitter London starts! Next stop recreating

the 9-bar pumpkin (but without unhealthy addition of sugar or vegetable oil) or the Nakd Trek bars with oats included. Go on give it a try, and if you find any winning combinations of

ingredients I’d love to hear them!

INGREDIENTS

(Makes 8 bars)

100g Pitted dates

100g mixed nuts (here is mostly cashew75g with a few walnuts 25g)

Pinch of cinnamon

Nutritional information: Per slice (1/8th of mixture) Roughly;

115 Kcal, 3g Protein, 7g Carbs, 6g fat

• Blend the nuts and cinnamon in a food processor until they resemble saw-dust (or you can leave them slightly chunkier if you prefer) and set aside.
  
  
  
• Cut the dates into small chunks Pic 2 (makes them easier to blend):Blend the dates in the food processor:It works better if you blend in this order as the dates get easily stuck in the blender make more mess and this way you don’t have to scrap them out of the processor then put them back in again.
• Then add the nut mixture back in and pulse until the mixture resembles a dough:
  
  
  
  
• Roll out the dough on a flat surface (mind it will be a bit sticky):
  
  
  and cut and shape into 8 bars:
  
  Or roll into smaller balls.
• Refrigerate for a few hours then enjoy (you can also put them in the freezer).
• Store in an air-tight container.

VARIATIONS

So long as the ratio of dried fruit to nuts or seeds is similar anything will work! I haven’t tried these yet but I'm thinking….. Almonds, Pecan’s, Macadamia nuts, Pinch of ginger, raw cacao powder, orange essence, vanilla essence, agave for extra sweetness, coconut, Dried banana, sultanas, dried apricots, figs, pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds, hemp seeds, mmmm…