1 lb. Medjool dates – pitted and mashed
1 lb. dried apricots – minced (unsulfured apricots)
½ lb. dried Bing cherries – minced (no sugar or preservatives)
1 lb. raw cashews – chopped
Approx. 2 cups unsweetened flake or shredded coconut
Approx. 2tbs – ¼ cup organic coconut oil
Cinnamon, sea salt, vanilla extract – to taste
Wax paper

In a large bowl, remove all ends and pits of the Medjool dates and mash together by hand. After pulverizing the dehydrated fruit and nuts (easy in a high powered blender on pulse), mix all ingredients together in the bowl with the dates. Add in the coconut oil, a pinch of sea salt, splash of vanilla and cinnamon.  Too much coconut oil will separate the nuts from the sticky dates. It should still be a little sticky from the dates and dehydrated fruit so you can shape them into bars.  Lay a piece of wax paper in a cookie sheet or baking pan, add the mixture and lay another piece of wax paper on top. Press the mixture flat; a rolling pin may be useful here. Cut into desired squares and wrap.

Tips –
Bars wrapped individually in wax paper are ready to go whether on hikes, bicycling or just in school/work lunches.
Robyn likes to refrigerate them and eat them cold, however they do not need refrigeration

*This is more of an ingredients list, the measurements are approximations – Robyn does not measure the ingredients out.  She uses a box of dates, a bag each of cashews, apricots and cherries from Trader Joes and about a half bag of coconut, pinch plus of salt, splash of vanilla and lots and lots of cinnamon to taste. The best thing about making this kind o bar is that you are in control adding exactly what you want in your energy bar and excluding the things you don’t.  Try to select all organic dried fruits with no sugar added, no sulfates and nothing artificial.