Healthy Valentine’s Day Treats: Nut + Date Bars

Happy Thursday friends! For some reason this week is flying by for us and the Thursday post snuck up on me! I haven’t posted a recipe in awhile and I’m really excited about this one!

Healthy Valentine’s Day Treats: Nut + Date Bars

Every year when Valentine’s Day rolls around me and my little man bake something yummy in our fun, heart shaped silicone baking pan! This year we are focused on exercising and eating well so I searched for a healthy recipe instead of something sweet. We are also getting ready to tackle Whole30 so I’ve started a Pinterest board full of Whole30, Paleo and real food recipes.

I have a new found love for dates so any time I have the opportunity to use them in a recipe I jump on it! I found this recipe that sounded delicious so I adapted it to our needs using what we had in the house. They are not super sweet like a slice of cake but they’re definitely yummy and filling.

Here is what we came up with and we all loved it! This is the type of recipe that needs tweaking depending on what you like. You could eliminate the honey and use vanilla extract powder if you wanted to make it Whole30 compliant. You could use more dates and less nuts or vice versa. Try it a couple of different ways until you find the combination that you like.

Ingredients:

1 pkg pitted dates

1 cup nuts (I used walnuts + almonds)

1 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

2 egg whites

1 tbsp cinnamon

1 tsp honey

1 tbsp vanilla

Confectioner’s sugar (optional)

Directions:

Chop the dates and nuts in a food processor until well combined, then mix with the rest of the ingredients. Bake for 15 minutes on 350 degrees. Let cool then dust with confectioner’s sugar and serve.

If you don’t have a heart shaped baking pan just line any pan with parchment paper and press the mixture into the pan. :)

I hope you guys enjoy the idea of a healthy Valentine’s Day treat! If so you should play around with this recipe. What do you guys do for the big day? Do you cook and stay in or go out to a fancy dinner?

If you missed my Valentine’s Day Gift Guide you can find it HERE.

Cheers!