I recently took a trip to visit my family in Northern California. On that trip I was able to catch up with all my cousins who also have little ones of their own! As we sat at the park while our kiddos played, one of my cousins, Lea, who also happens to be a registered dietician, was feeding her one-year-old these date bites. I tried one and loved it, and knew The Kitchen Cub would, too.
You can read more about the amazing work my cousin does for the Bariatric community here.
After the dates soaked for an hour, we started by having the cub help us take the pits out of the dates and chop them up. This is something she loves to do!
She’s extra careful and working on watching her fingers while she chops.
The cub helped us add all the chopped dates to the food processor. Next, in goes the oats.
Then the chia seeds.
And lastly, the nut butter. We used Trader Joe’s Mixed Nut Butter, which is a mixture of different nut butters. You can use peanut butter, almond butter or any nut butter you fancy.
Put the top of the food processor on and pulse the mixture until it forms a ball of dough and all the ingredients look blended.
Transfer to a bowl and start scooping.
Grandma DiDi shows the cub how to roll them into balls between her palms. The cub is fascinated by this process!
“Now I try”, says the cub! She was so proud of her work. After you have rolled all the dough into balls, store them in the refrigerator.
But don’t forget the best part – eat one!
As you can see these are SIMPLE and easy to make. They are full of protein, vitamins, minerals, fiber, Omega 3 fatty acids, antioxidants, iron and calcium! They are easy to pack up for a snack and taste delicious!
Nut Butter Date Bites
Ingredients
- 1 cup dates
- 1/2 cup rolled oats
- 2 tbs chia seeds
- 2 tbs nut butter (Can be mixed, peanut, almond, cashew or any nut butter you like)
Directions
- Soak the dates in water for an hour.
- Remove pits and chop dates.
- Add dates, chia seeds, oats and nut butter to the food processor.
- Pulse the mixture until it forms a dough and all ingredients are mixed together.
- Transfer the dough to a bowl and start rolling the mixture into small bite-sized balls.
- Once you’ve rolled all of the dough into bite-sized balls, eat one, then store the rest in the refrigerator.
