Home made fruity snacks

My little boy is a big fan of little fruity snack bars. The commercial ones are not cheap (especially the organic ones), so I've been looking into home made versions.

Chewy fruit and oat energy bars

Yummy!

There's some great recipes for these by Camilla at Enlightened Cooking. These would also be fantastic to whip up if you're a sporty type who prefers to nibble little snacks when you have a big event (I never could eat much food on race days).

I'm using dried dates soaked in some warm water for 10 minutes.

This recipe made about 8 little finger sized bars.

⅓ cup dates
⅓cup dried cranberries
⅓ cup sultanas
⅓ cup coconut
⅓ cup quick oats

Process the fruit until very finely chopped, then remove from the food processor. Add the oats and coconut and process until fine. Mix by hand with the fruit to make a smooth ball. Use damp hands to shape the mixture into bars or balls, then keep in the fridge. I imagine these would freeze very well too, so you can just pop one in a lunchbox in the morning.

The best thing I liked about this recipe is that I already had all of these things in the cupboard.