Dalai Mama Dishes

by Catherine Newman

Catherine Newman cooks for the family

Dalai Mama Dishes

Catherine Newman cooks for the family

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Raw Energy Bars

Posted April 26, 2010
Find more about energy bars , nuts , dried fruit , snack
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These are amazingly good--you'll see. Plus, you'll feel so virtuous about making them! Log.

Okay. We're going to do a little step-by-step visual tour of making these. These are the ingredients of Pina Colada Bars, which are the kids' current favorite flavor.

Ben pitted dates for me while I ground the almonds and coconut.

From this. . .

. . . to this. Then you add the fruit to the food processor.

Like this. You grind it up, then add the nuts back in and grind some more.

Until you end up with this.

Tear up the wax paper before you start, or you'll be annoyed about washing your hands so many times.

Some old lady with old lady hands rushed in to shape them, apparently.

I divide the 8 lumps, then shape and wrap each one. I want to explain the wrapping to you in person, because it is easier than it looks. Can you come over? Or I could make a youtube video like the ones of people teaching crochet: "Then you kind of. . . " [obfuscated and slightly off-camera activity with the hook] ". . . do this other thing, like this."

It's like--say it with me, here--money in the bank.

I also made the cherry chocolate macaroon version yesterday (Michael's favorite, which is bad, because he eats them all). These are the ingredients. Note that there are no other ingredients and no cooking. Raw energy, folks. That's what it's all about. Did I ever tell you about the raw-foods devotee I lived with, who smoked 3 packs a day and was an alcoholic? Oy. Forest for the trees.

These taste like brownies, I swear. Not, like, the best brownies you ever ate, but decent ones.

"I only wanted to hear the names of the nuts that *aren't* salted. . . . waaaaaah." Where did my baby go?

So, I was just brainstorming nuts for the ingredients suggestions here, and I suddenly remembered Ben as a preschooler asking me to list all the nuts I could think of. As I recall, the red-scalped newborn Birdy was hollering wetly from the Bjorn and Ben became deranged with misery because I added cashews to the list, when he only wanted to hear about unsalted nuts. Wow. That was a long time ago, no? These are the golden years, I can't help thinking: nobody still falling apart, nobody yet teenaged. We are between a rock and hard place, only there seems to be lots of space here, lots of time. Life is good.

Although, that said: food preparation. Sheesh! Talk about nuts. Every other second somebody needs breakfast or lunch or dinner or a snack. And I actually love to cook and eat! I can't imagine how dreadful it must be for parents who don't. Because honestly? I can't believe it sometimes. Like last night. Dinnertime again! It had been dinnertime, like, ten nanoseconds earlier, but there it was, returned like something out of Groundhog Day. Or Night of the Living Meal Preparation. "What's for dinner?" I said to Michael, which is mean, because really I do all the cooking. But if I ask, he will start generating bad ideas in a guilty, robotic panic. "Oh!" he said, and stood in front of the freezer. "Thai green curry? I see one chicken breast in there, and some peas. And also. . . Wait. No. Just the chicken and peas, actually." I patted his back. "Relax," I said. "I'm on it." And I was. I made tamale pie without even thawing the meat first: I cheat by frying the frozen block in a pan, scraping it as it thaws and cooks. It is revolting and a waste of time, but it's amazing how often I end up doing it that way. Dinnertime! Lunchtime! Breakfast!

And also, snacks. Did we eat as many snacks as our kids do? I can't imagine. Although writing that, I just remembered plopping down in front of Little House on the Prairie with a bag of Fritos and a tub of sour cream. Those were the days; my arteries are probably still sitting around the campfire, telling each other stories about it in a scary voice. And I suppose if I were willing to send the kids to school with Fritos and sour cream, then life would be fairly simple. But nooooo. I insist on nutrient density. Nutrient Density!

And so, these whole-foods fruit-and-nut energy bars: perfect, portable, junk-free, delicious, and wildly wholesome snacking. Minimal packaging, maximum energy, and quick and easy to make. Full of protein, essential fatty acids, vitamins, and minerals. I actually developed this recipe for FamilyFun Magazine, and it's in this month's issue, along with a way better photograph than any of mine here (Does theirs look like a turd? No. No it does not.) But for me, it's kind of like the no-knead bread or the granola: a recipe that could totally revolutionize some aspect of your life. In this case, the snack aspect of your life. They're loosely modeled after various expensive packaged bars, but they're so much cheaper, they're fully customizable, and they're sized just right for kids, i.e. they're small. Which is good because they are pure food and so quite filling.

As you'll see in the recipe below, you can make them with any combination of raw nuts and dried fruits, tailoring to the tastes of your family. But here's what I recommend: make two batches at a time. That way, you maximize the dirtying of your food processor (this is nearly an obsession of mine--the way I avoid it, you'd think that washing it was rocket science crossed with being on hold with customer service representatives) and also you provide variety and make enough for two school weeks, assuming that you have two children and commit to giving them a different snack one day a week (hello, popcorn!). You'll see, though: they're incredibly easy to make, and I actually kind of like squeezing the mixture to form the bars, though I apologize about this step: believe me, I wanted to be able to tell you that you could press them into a pan and cut them, like a normal person, but I just don't find that this works. I'm thinking, too, that you could avoid wrapping them individually: just shape them, store them in a large container, and then pop them into small containers for transporting. But the wax paper makes my kids feel like they're getting an actual snack bar. I can't explain the psychology, but it works.

Raw Energy Bars (basic recipe)
Makes 8 bars
Total time: 15 minutes

Ingredients
1/2 cup of raw nuts (walnuts, almonds, pecans, coconut, cashews) or roasted peanuts
1/2 cup (loosely packed) of pitted dates
1/2 cup (loosley packed) of another dried fruit (apples, apricots, cherries, pineapple, or more dates)

Shown here:
Pina Colada Bars (5 dates, 5 torn-up pineapple rings, 1/4 cup each almonds and coconut)
Chocolate Cherry Macaroon Bars (5 dates, scant 1/2 cup cherries, 1/4 cup each walnuts and coconut, 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder)

In a food processor fitted with the steel blade, grind the nuts fine, then tip them into a bowl. Now grind the fruit until it turns into small clumps, then add the nuts back in and process again until a small handful of the mixture holds together when you squeeze it. (If this never happens, then add in a few more dates; conversely, if the mixture seems too damp, add a few more nuts.)

Tear off four squares of wax paper, then tear them in half to make 8 rectangles. Divide the mixture into 8 parts by picking up handfuls and squeezing. Squeeze and press some more to form each lump into a rough rectangle, then wrap in the wax paper. I do this the way I would make a burrito: I lay the bar near and parallel to a short side of the rectangle, then fold the long sides in, then roll it all up. Store them in air-tight container in the refrigerator.

Follow the basic 2 to 1 ratio of dried fruit to nuts and create your own flavors. But these are some of our favorites:

Cherry Tart: walnuts, almonds, dates, cherries
Peanut Butter Snap: peanuts, dates, dash of vanilla, sprinkle of salt
Apricot Muffin: almonds, dates, apricots
Apple Brown Betty: pecans, dates, apples, pinch of cinnamon
Key Lime Pie: coconut, pecans, dates, apples, finely grated lime zest

Get a printable version of this recipe

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Raw Energy Bars

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About Catherine Newman

Catherine Newman is the author of the memoir, Waiting for Birdy: A Year of Frantic Tedium, Neurotic Angst, and the Wild Magic of Growing a Family, available online and in bookstores nationwide.

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