My first taste of healthy snickers came about when I was doing my nutritional therapy clinical practice.   One of the students in our practice group brought them in for our practice clients to sample during their break between the first and second part of their consultation.  Everyone in our group of four brought some ‘healthy’ treats.  They were all delicious and I have used these recipes often.  At the time I believe the recipe for the snickers came from ‘The Happy Pear’ David and Stephen Flynn.  I couldn’t believe these were actually healthy, they simply tasted too good!!  That particular recipe is not in the ‘The Happy Pear’ book that I have on my shelf (Yellow cover) but it might be in the later publication (which I think has a blue cover).  In any case, I have seen their recipe on a YouTube video which I will link below.   You can try their recipe too and decide what suits you best.  The recipe I use here is slightly different but equally as delicious and healthy.  I will also link this video below.  Generally, I will have these ingredients to hand which is why I use this recipe and why I make them regularly.

Ingredients

• 170g pitted dates
• 2 tablespoons of peanut butter
• A pinch of salt
• 100g Oat flour
• 60g peanuts
• 100g 70% dark chocolate

Method

Remove the stones (pits) from the dates.   [I use vacuum packed dates which I buy in the ethnic stores].  Soak them in a medium sized bowl of warm water for 2-4 minutes to soften them.  Drain off the water and mix the peanut butter and pinch of salt to the bowl or blender.  Blend them or mix them really well until you have a smooth paste consistency.  Divide the mixture into a 60 / 40 ratio, placing the smaller portion into a separate bowl.  Add the oat flour.  [I use porridge oats and just blend them into a flour.  You can use a Nutribullet, a hand blender or food processor for this]. Add the oats to the bigger portion of the date/butter mix.  This forms the base of the bars.  Cover a baking tray or chopping board with a baking sheet and roll the mixture flat with a rolling pin.  Do your best to form a square or rectangular base

At this point you can place it in the fridge to harden or you can continue with making the bars.   If you decide not to let it harden just be a little more careful when spreading the remaining butter/date mix onto the base.  Cover it completely.

For the next layer you add the peanuts.  [It is easier to buy salted peanuts so this is what I use].  Weigh out the 60g and place them in a sieve under the tap to wash the salt off.  [You can also use unsalted or any other raw nuts].   Dry them with a paper towel and place them evenly on top of the previous two layers.

Now place this in the freezer to harden for up to 30 minutes.  Melt 100g of dark chocolate before removing the bars from the freezer.  Here you have an option.  You can either cut the bars to size and pour the chocolate over each bar [as seen in the video] or, what I tend to do is just cover the whole square with the melted chocolate, place it back in the fridge and cut it into smaller squares later.  In this way the chocolate is just on the top – more like a tray bake and less like a bar!

A full size bar is very filling and if you are very hungry its perfect, but I tend to make smaller portions for a satisfying snack.

Extra notes:  I usually double the ingredients and make more.  They keep very well in the fridge in a sealed container.  I would love to say that they last for ages in the fridge but I couldn’t stand over that statement since they don’t stay there for very long!! 🙂

These bars are nutrient dense.  The dates, oats, peanuts and dark chocolate are all bursting with healthy nutrition.  I would say the bars might be ‘medium’ on the glycaemic load (GL) scale.  Oats, peanuts and dark chocolate are low GL.  The dates will push this up to a higher GL, however, dates are natural sugar and are nutrient dense.

I have noticed a very big difference between a bar like this and a purchased ‘normal’ bar made on simple sugars.  The very first thing I have observed when it comes to eating simple sugars is that ‘one’ is never enough.  Simple sugars tend to ‘fire up’ the addiction centers in your brain the minute it hits your taste buds and you immediately think ‘I want more’, or ‘I need more’.  Watch for this – you’ll be amazed.  By comparison, I seldom find myself running back for more straight away when I eat a homemade bar like this one.   It seems to satisfy both the sweet tooth and the hungry tummy at the same time, without triggering addiction.

I hope you will give them a try and see for yourself.

Anne ♥

Here is the link to the YouTube ‘The Happy Pear’ recipe – click here   4.52 mins

Here is the link to the YouTube recipe I use above – click here   6.04 mins