I would call myself an organized person. Really, I would. But sometimes, I have to wonder...
Because I'm also the person who leaves so many internet tabs open that I can't see the icons on any of them anymore. And the person who works with stuff all over the table, which I won't clean up until I'm completely done. And the person who occasionally finds that a recipe I wrote down a few weeks ago now looks like some sort of confusing combination of ingredients, steps, and baking times that I can't be sure if I'm reading correctly.
I'll call it a good day if I sit down to write a post and have a fully legible recipe in front of me, even if it is a little messy. On a not-so-good day, I'm rummaging through the recipe drawer looking for that one recipe hidden somewhere in a mountain of the rest of them.
I fully blame my misorganization for the mess it's been trying to finalize the recipe for these bars. I think I made these at least four times before I actually wrote the entire recipe down coherently. Can somebody please tell me how that happens with a 6-ingredient, 5-step recipe?? I have no idea.
So now that I've officially made you guys all think I'm a mess, I hope you still trust me. Because I promise these apple bars taste good, but they look like... not much. We're taking a bunch of brownish ingredients, throwing them together in a food processor, grinding them to bits, and then clumping it all together into bars. The possibility of making an attractive snack here is about zero. But here's what I love about these - the healthy, nutrient-dense ingredient list. The easy recipe. The rich, nutty flavor of the pecans combined with the natural sweetness of dates. The tart apple flavor subtly blended in, perfect alongside the robust taste of cinnamon. Yup, these are good AND healthy. Don't you love it when that happens?
PrintApple Cinnamon Energy Bars
Rich in the nutty taste of toasted pecans and naturally sweetened with dates, these Apple Cinnamon Energy Bars are flavor and nutrient-packed!
- Yield: 10-12 bars 1x
Ingredients
- 8 ounces pecans (2 cups)
- 5 ¾ ounces rolled oats (2 cups)*
- 8 ¼ ounces pitted and halved dates (1 ½ cups)
- 2 teaspoons cinnamon
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 8 ounces chopped granny smith apples (or similar) (2 cups)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350°F.
- Line a baking sheet with parchment paper, and spread the pecans and oats out on it in a single flat layer. Bake in the preheated oven for 10-15 minutes, until toasted and fragrant.
- Keep the oven preheated to 350°F. Line an 8" square pan or a 12" x 5 ½" biscotti pan with parchment paper, leaving enough parchment on the sides to use as "handles" for pulling out the finished bars.
- Place the toasted nuts and oats in a food processor along with the dates, cinnamon, and salt. Process until the mixture is coarse and crumbly, with no large pieces remaining. Add the chopped apple and pulse in until there are no longer any large chunks left. Continue to process until everything starts to clump together, using a spatula if necessary to help move things around. This process may move slowly, but eventually everything should come together.
- Transfer the mixture to the prepared pan, using a wide, flat spatula to pat it down into a flat and compact layer that takes up the entire space of the pan. It helps to fold the extra parchment on the sides over the bars, and flatten with the spatula on top of the parchment (to prevent sticking). Be patient with this; the bars will look the exact same once they're done baking, so try to make them really flat and even.
- Bake the bars in the preheated oven for 20 minutes. Cool for 10-15 minutes, and then slice into bars. Once completely cool, lift out of the pan. Store in an airtight container in the fridge.
Notes
*To make these bars gluten-free, use gluten-free rolled oats.
Laura says
I need to know the calorie count on these please help!
alexandra says
I don't personally do those calculations, but you can always type the ingredients and amounts into a nutrition calculator online and get an idea that way. :)
Kristin says
I used almonds instead of pecans and threw in some dried cranberries and blueberries. It is yummy and healthy! I also used a pot to "toast" my nuts and oats...worked perfectly fine. Finally something easy to make and deliciously nutritious.
alexandra says
So happy to hear you liked the recipe and were able to adapt it to fit the ingredients you had! Thanks for sharing your changes; it's always good to hear how a recipe can work in different ways!
Shay says
I'm planning to use almonds, as well. They're higher in protien and oh so delicious. I might even try them with cranberries, too!
alexandra says
Almond would definitely be a good pick too! ;)
Debby says
The recipe says 8 ounces of nuts and oats. Then says 2 cups? Which is it?
alexandra says
The ounce measurements are by weight and the cup measurements are by volume - (One cup of pecans weighs 4 oz). If you have a kitchen scale, you can use the weight measurements, but otherwise just follow the volume measurements.
John says
Just made these for the first time, and I cooked them for exactly 20 mins in a can oven. I wondered if they should still be fairly soft or should they be hard and crunchy?
Mine are very similar to a a malt loaf in texture. Can't think of anything else to compare with. Thanks for the recipe, they are very tasty. Using them for MTB XC race fuel.
alexandra says
They should be on the soft side - not at all hard or crunchy. I've never had a malt loaf so I can't really comment on whether it's similar to that!
Shabri says
These bars look amazing! but do I have to use dates? I'm not a huge fan on having fruit in my breakfast bars.
alexandra says
Well the dates are definitely vital to the recipe since they're the only source of sweetness and help everything stick together somewhat. The recipe has apples in it anyway, so even without the dates there would still be fruit! Unless you meant to ask whether you had to use the apples? :)
Cathy says
Hi there - just went apple picking and looking for a great way to use apples for lunchbox snacks for my daughter. But her school is nut free. Any thoughts on substituting the pecans? A mix of seeds instead? These look so yummy....
alexandra says
Maybe a combination of more oats and some seeds? Essentially you just need something to keep the "dough" from being too moist from all the apples.
Jessica says
Hey there! Do you leave the skin on the apple for this recipe or peel it off?
alexandra says
You can leave the skin on. :)
Robin says
I made these a few days ago and can't stop eating them! Great snack, wonderful with coffee in the morning or for an afternoon pick up. I wanted to add I blended the oats and nuts in a blender and it worked fine, however I had to move the mixture to my ninja chopper and complete it in batches with the apples. Time consuming but worth it. Thanks for the recipe.
alexandra says
I'm so glad you were able to make the recipe work with the tools you had on hand, and the fact that you love them is even better! :)
Sara says
I just made these and they taste wonderful! I used one cup of walnuts and one cup of pecans, 2 fuji apples, and used a whole tablespoon of cinnamon. Unfortunately I don't have a food processor, so my attempt to use my nutribullet really tested my patience! I am going to try to freeze about half of these bars, and see how they turn out!
When working out the calories, I got 12 bars that were 270 calories, with 5.3g of fiber, 5.5g of protein, 35.3g of carbs and 19.6g of sugar. Hope this helps!
alexandra says
I hope they were worth bearing through that nutribullet! You'll have to get your hands on a food processor for future endeavors. ;) Thank you for sharing the nutritional information!
isabelle says
wow i kove these alll
Robin says
Thanks for this recipe! I made them with walnuts instead of pecans, as I've always liked the combo of dates & walnuts. Really good and satisfying-- I will be making them again! I also used gluten-free oats. I plugged in the ingredients for a nutrition count, and for 10 bars, I got 285 calories, 47 g carbs, 9 g fat and 5.4 g protein per bar.
alexandra says
I'm glad you liked them! And thanks so much for sharing the nutritional info for everyone who would like to know. :)
puk says
okay, thank you!
they are delicious by the way
Puk says
Hey!
Do you have any idea of how many calories there are in one bar?
Thanks :)
alexandra says
I don't; I would suggest trying a recipe nutritional calculator online. :)
Megan says
Hi. I was just wondering if the bars are able to be frozen successfully? :)
alexandra says
I haven't done it myself, but I'm pretty confident that they would freeze really well. :)
Megan says
Thanks. :D
Momma Buzz says
These sound really good. I've actually never used dates before and am not familiar with the texture. Do you think prunes might be a good addition, or maybe too soft? For some reason I'm thinking dates are more firm and would hold up better with this? I obviously don't have a clue what I'm talking about. You must hate all of us "We'll just overtake your recipe and use what we want, but ask you for your thoughts first" kind of people. Still I beg you, please and thank you :).
alexandra says
Ahaha :) No hating but I still love what you just said. Anyhow, dates are definitely more firm but I don't think prunes would necessarily screw things up texture-wise. What I would be worried about is the flavor change; prunes are more fruity and much less sweet.
Momma Buzz says
I appreciate the feedback! I'll just buy dates :) lol. Was looking for a way to get rid of some prunes. Buuuuut, I'm not enough of a risk taker to make these and them not turn out as good as they could have if I would've just done what you told us to do in the first place. :) Thank you Alexandra! FYI - found you via Pinterest, but loving everything I see!
alexandra says
You're very welcome! I'm so happy you found the blog. :)
Jessica says
Hi! I made these last night with a few substitutes using what I had in my kitchen and they are awesome!! I put half the mixture in the pan, then a layer of natural peanut butter then the rest of the mixture on top before the final baking step. Delicious and so easy! Thank you and I adore your blog :)
alexandra says
I love that idea of adding some peanut butter to the middle; now I'm thinking I need to make these again and try that out! Thanks so much for sharing your experience with the recipe. SO happy you liked it!