Cinnamon Sea Salt Energy Date Bars

You know what's scary sometimes? The back of your kitchen pantry or cupboard. Because we are still working on restoring the big, beautiful new kitchen in the house, I'm still cooking out of the smaller upstairs kitchen. (Side note: if you are complaining about your current kitchen that it's not big enough, bright enough,  or whatever-you can feel free to nip that in the bud any time. If I can make croissants from scratch or soufflé out of this tiny, outdated pink and brown kitchen sans dishwasher, you're fine.). Long story short: the cabinets are not organized the way I want them. They're super deep and that means I totally lose things in the back. Things like spices. 

What lies beneath in the clutter of your spice area is what this entire Recipe Redux challenge is about. I'm sure we all have spices we just don't know what to do with. But now you have dozens of recipes to peruse and see if your 'what the heck?' spice is in any of our recipes. Which is why today I'm working with saigon cinnamon to make a delicious, on the go energy bar you'll love. And may even make you buy more potent, sweet but hot ground saigon cinnamon. 

Cinnamon Date Energy Bars

Makes 1 small pan

/// Ingredients ///

• 2 cups pitted mejool dates
• 1 cup almonds 
• 1 1/2 teaspoon ground saigon cinnamon 
• 1/2 teaspoon sea salt 
• 1 T water

/// Directions /// In a food processor, add dates and almonds and water. Holding the lid down and pressing to stabilize on the counter, pulse the date mix. Keep pulsing until the ingredients become chopped and start to ball together. They should look large and grainy as they come together. Add spices and pulse again. Using a rubber spatula, turn mix out onto a pan with a Silpat or parchment paper. Pat into a square and place in the freezer for 30 minutes. Cut into bars and store in a container in the freezer. 

I always keep a batch of these in the freezer for a quick, energy packed snack or for breakfast on the run! I've also experimented by adding powdered peanut butter and they are delicious.... and they're also awesome with my favorite coffee ice cream. 

An InLinkz Link-up