Caveman Energy Bars

I could have sworn I had published the recipe for my home made Caveman energy bars, but after searching both my blogs, apparently I haven’t! It has been published in some interviews with Paleo Cookbooks, but never on any of my sites. So, for your learning pleasure, here is the super secret world famous “Caveman Energy Bars”.

 

 

My Favorite-The original- Choco Coco Cashew

There is no real magic to the amount of each ingredient. I never measure anything out, so I can only tell you what I use and how I do it.

• Pitted Dates
• Finely chopped Cashews
• Coconut flakes or ground coconut, sometimes called dessicated coconut
• Local honey
• 100% Cocoa powder

I start by heating the dates in water until I can peel the skins off. I mash them flat on a plate. Pour some honey on top, then place cashew pieces, then more honey, then coconut, followed by more honey and then the cocoa powder. Then I just start mashing together with my hands and forming into squares, trying to squeeze as much air out from the mixture as I can. If the bars feel too sticky (too much dates or honey) then add more nuts and coconut. If it’s too dry and the nuts aren’t sticking, add more dates or honey. If you really like dark chocolate, add more cocoa! Enjoy!

Some others I’ve tried: (Dates and Honey remain the “binder” ingredients.)

Pecan/Cashew

Walnut/Cranberry

Green Machine-Pistachio and Pepitas

Mixed nuts and flax seed (flax seed is high in Omega 3!)

 

Really, you can get creative and develop bars to your taste. The dates and honey have a decent amount of sugars while the nuts, coconut, and cocao powder add some nice fat and protein. Dried fruit adds a little sugar but also a lot of flavor.

Whatever you do, stay away from grain based ingredients such as flour, corn, rice, sugar, oats, granola, etc. Keep it real, and keep it simple. I would keep these bars refrigerated and consume within a week. I make my bars 1-2 days before a big race and I find that any leftovers I have start to go bad after about a week. I think because I’ve heated the dates to make them workable. If you have a kickass food processor and can do all this cold pressed, they might last longer. Let me know if you have any luck with this!

Tagged as: caveman diet, caveman energy bars, energy bar recipe, make your own energy bars, Paleo Diet, paleo recipes