Almond Date Breakfast Bars

Breakfast bars are a wonderful thing, especially when they hit that perfect spot between sweet, nutty, chewy and wholesome. There's nothing much better when you're in need of a quick snack but the clock's a tickin' and the door is beckoning.

My poor, harried little sister is an architecture student, which basically means that I see her briefly between the hours of two and six a.m. when she stumbles past my bed on the way to the bathroom before going to sleep. The other day when I was asking her what I could make (as really the only way I have to express my affection or concern is by baking untold amounts of goodies and foisting them upon her on her way out of the door) she answered that she wanted some breakfast bars. So I searched around my ample recipe collection and happened upon these little fellows. And let me tell you, these bars hit that balance. Lots of sweet, chewy dates, crunchy almonds. Plus, knowing that you made these by hand make them all the more wonderful.

It's important that you use the right size pan and pack these suckers as hard as you can--plus, if it seems a bit crumbly you can add a bit more honey. Mine came out crumbly (yet delicious!) as you can see in the picture at the top, but it's no bother--any extra crumbles can be used as granola!

Almond Date Breakfast Bars (from the Smitten Kitchen cookbook)

1 cup chopped dried pitted dates
1 1/4 cups rolled oats
3 T barley or whole wheat flour
1/3 cup wheat germ
1/2 cup thinly sliced almonds
1/2 tsp table salt
1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 cup almond butter
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 cup honey
1/4 tsp freshly grated orange zest
1/4 tsp almond extract

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line and 8x8 pan with parchment paper, making a "sling." Stir together dates, oats, flour, wheat germ, almonds, salt and cinnamon in large bowl. In separate bowl, whisk together the almond butter, olive oil, honey, orange zest and almond extract until smooth. Pour wet ingredients into dry mixture and stir together until the dry ingredients are evenly coated. Spread batter into prepared pan, pressing firmly  into the corners to mold to the shape of the pan. Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown around the edges. Cool in pan or after 20 minutes use the sling to remove the bars to cool the rest of the way. Use a serrated knife to cut the bars into squares. Chill them in the refrigerator for 30 minutes in the fridge to firmly set. Enjoy!