Date Bar Recipe

These are the easiest recipe I have and my new go to/favorite. Dates are sugary, low on the glycemic index, low on the insulin index, not too expensive, and they taste like brown sugar. This means that they will provide a very even and sustained bit of energy. They're also small so you can pack quite a few in a jersey pocket and fit a whole bar into your mouth at once while riding and they're easy to chew unlike a Powerbar.

This is basically a rip of the popular LaraBar and it again requires one to tune the recipe to their liking. There are dozens of sites online that provide recipes for the various LaraBar flavors, but most of them miss the mark and I would rather spontaneously do things on my own accord.

1 bag of dates
1/2 cup of nuts. I generally use either Almonds, Cashews, Pistachios, Macademia nuts, or all of the above. I have also substituted this part for dark chocolate or shredded coconut.
Optional portion of dried fruit. Use whatever you like. Add Pineapple to make shit taste like a Pina Colada- its your call here.

Place dates in the food processor. Grind it like a frat boy at an underaged nightclub. If you're adding dried fruit you can either add it in with the dates or add the whole pieces in the bowl. Place in a mixing bowl. Grind up the other ingredients separately. Place in said bowl. Knead with hands. Place on wax paper or tin foil and cut into sections with a knife. The size of these sections depends on how many calories you want per bar so just add up the key macronutrients on the bag and go from there. Mine end up being 20 grams of carbs and 4 grams of fat.

Put in the fridge or individually wrap and you're done. You can easily fit 4 40 gram bars in a jersey pocket and it ends up being the size of a wallet. Convenient and cheap. If you buy dates in bulk you can get about 200-300 grams of carbs for $6. Considering a Clif Bar is typically around 40 grams, you're saving a bit of cash and getting a better form of sustainable energy. You can also use them for snacks since these are low on both the insulin index and glycemic index.