Easy No-Bake Lamington Bars

These easy no-bake lamington bars come together using only 4 ingredients and a food processor and are a great healthy snack to have on hand. Combining the classic flavours of coconut and chocolate, with the natural sweetness of dates, these are the perfect paleo and refined sugar-free snack alternative.

I first started making these no bake date bars when I was completing the Whole30 diet, a variation of Paleo which has you eliminating a long list of foods including grains, dairy, and sugar. I was at about the halfway point and I was in a major sugar low at the point of feeling like I wasn’t going to make it through when I decided to make an approved snack.

Now if you follow the Whole30 rules strictly, making a sugary snack with dates to feed a craving isn’t really in the spirit, but my focus was more on just ensuring compliance so I decided that a small portion of a healthy snack bar that would get me through those days when I was struggling was acceptable to me.

I think with any form of diet, while it’s great to stick to the rules, it’s also important to listen to your body and decide what is the right thing for you. For me, I didn’t really think this was a trigger for my unhealthy behaviours so I went for it, and let me tell you that this was one of the simplest recipes to come out of my kitchen thanks to the Whole30.

There are many flavour variations of these easy date and nut bars, but I found the classic combination of coconut and chocolate based on the classic Australian lamington, to be my absolute favourite. You could also make these into round bites and dust them with more cocoa if you wanted to make them more like a healthy truffle.

These bars are rich, chocolatey and a bit chewy, so you only need a small bar to get you through the cravings while you wait for your next meal. They are also raw, vegan, paleo, Whole30 approved, dairy-free, gluten-free, refined sugar-free…basically perfect for anyone who doesn’t have a nut allergy!

How to make no-bake date and nut bars

These simple snack bars come together with just 4 ingredients;

• Dates
• Cashews
• Coconut
• Cacao

They are one of the simplest recipes to make as you throw all of the ingredients into a food processor until it gets sticky, press into a pan, then let it chill in the fridge. The hardest bit is waiting for them to be ready! Being such a simple recipe, there really isn’t much that can go wrong which makes these perfect for beginners in the kitchen.

Also hands up who loves a recipe for the summer months that doesn’t require turning on the oven?!

What dates should I use in these bars?

Dates are pretty much just bite sized pieces of unrefined sugar. They are sweet and sticky making them the perfect base for these bars, adding that sweetness and combining everything else together.

In this recipe I do not specify using medjool dates as many health food bloggers will. Basically I am very cost conscious when I am at the grocery store, and for something like this recipe, I cannot justify the price.

I just use the regular cheap dates from the dried fruit isle that cost under $2 and soak them in warm water to rehydrate them before using. The general benefit I can see is that medjool dates may provide a stronger caramel flavour, but in this recipe I am adding the strong flavours of coconut and cacao so I still do not see enough of a benefit. If you prefer them, use them, otherwise regular cheap dates with a little rehydration will be perfectly fine.

You can also use any leftover dates to make this vegan sticky date pudding – although maybe not if you are trying to be sugar free!

I think the possibilities for different variations of these bars could be essentially endless. I do love the addition of cacao powder though as the bitterness cuts the sweetness of the dates and gives that familiar chocolatey taste.

Original recipe was published February 20th 2017.