Chickpea Date Nut Bars Vegan Date Sweetened Gluten-Free Oil-Free
Nutrient-dense plant based magic without added oil or refined sweeteners. The classic combo of dates, walnuts and spices gets a whole food plant-based makeover in this easy food processor oat-based recipe.
Equipment
- Food Processor
- Cake Spatula
- 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 inch square cake pan
- Pre-Formed Parchment Paper Pan Liner, 8" x 8" or 7" x 9" OPTIONAL (you can also use a sheet of parchment paper, or grease pan and dust with cornstarch, gf flour, or all-purpose flour)
Ingredients
- ¾ cup oat flour (store bought or make your own*)
- 3 Tbsp almond flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp baking soda
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 tsp allspice
- ⅔ cup sliced Deglet Noor dates, divided (remove any stems or pits and slice into 1/4 inch cross sections)
- 1 can chickpeas (15.5 oz), drained and rinsed
- ¾ cup unsweetened plant milk
- 1 Tbsp molasses
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ⅓ cup chopped walnuts
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350℉
- Line an 8 x 8 or 9 x 9 inch pan with parchment paper or a pre-formed parchment paper liner. Alternately, you can grease and dust pan if you prefer or don't have something to line it with.
- Place oat flour, almond flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and allspice in the bowl of a food processor. Briefly pulse until all dry ingredients are combined. One or two seconds of pulsing is all you need.
- To the dry ingredients in the food processor, add half the sliced dates (1/3 cup), chickpeas, plant milk, molasses and vanilla extract. Process until a smooth batter is formed. This will take several minutes and it's a good idea to open the food processor and scrape down the sides once or twice so everything gets processed.
- Remove the blade from the bowl of the processor. You also might as well take the bowl off the base too. Add the other half of the sliced dates and the walnuts. Using a cake spatula, gently fold the walnuts and sliced dates into the batter until evenly distributed.
- Spread batter into the prepared pan as evenly as possible and bake at 350º for 45 minutes.
- Cut into squares and serve warm or cold.
Notes
*You can make your own oat flour for this recipe by placing ¾ cup of rolled oats in the bowl of a food processor and pulsing until a slightly coarse flour is formed. Don't try to make your oat flour too fine or it won't work as well.
Tried this recipe? Let me know how it was!