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These No-Bake Cherry Pistachio Bars are made with just 5 ingredients and are ready in 20 minutes. They’re also completely raw and make a fantastic snack on the run. Who says you need to turn your oven on to make yourself a great snack!Â
The inevitable happened…my food processor died a long, slow death.
Actually, it happened quite quickly but my mourning for it certainly wasn’t.
After about 20 years of nut butter and ball abuse, I knew it was coming. But I’ll admit that it really did feel like a stab to the heart.
The worst part about it was that I was halfway through ball making so I had to figure out what to do with the dough (is it technically dough? I dunno.) because when a girl needs her balls, she needs her balls.
The one benefit to my food processor dying was discovering that you can in fact make balls and bars with a blender. I’ve always suggested it as an option but live-and-die by my food processor so I couldn’t actually speak to it myself. Admittedly, the consistency isn’t quite as smooth as the food processor but it’s sort of like chunky peanut butter vs. smooth peanut butter…either way it’s PB and therefore is delicious.
As it turns out though, it was just the blade that broke so if I can find an old blade that will work on my old-school food processor, I should be good to go. I should probably just suck it up and buy a new one, but I’m convinced that if I could get 20 years out of my baby, a brand-spanking new blade might give it 20 years more.
They just don’t make appliances like they used to…
I have a confession: I am totally out of things to say during this post. Lee and I just made and shot 4 posts today and I’m about ready to pass out on her couch.
And by this I mean happy hour and sushi and soaking up the last of this gorgeous weather before it leaves us for a week of rain.
It’s been a crazy/intense/wonderful week and I’m not ready to leave her. Plus she keeps her freezer stocked full of bars and balls. She knows me well.
I may even go as far as to say I love her as much as my food processor. And now that it’s dead I can openly admit this.
Off to enjoy the rest of this beautiful city with ma gurl!
No-Bake Cherry Pistachio Bars
- Prep Time: 5 minutes
- Cook Time: 15 minutes
- Total Time: 20 minutes
- Yield: 12 bars 1x
- Category: Snack
- Method: Blend
- Diet: Vegan
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted dates*
- 1 cup dried cherries
- 1 cup raw shelled pistachios
- 1 cup raw almonds
- 1/2 tsp sea salt
Instructions
- Add dates to a food processor or high-powered blender and process until broken up into pea-sized bits.
- Add in cherries, pistachios, almonds and sea salt.
- Process until well-combined. In a blender it may be slightly chunkier.
- Line a 9 x 9 inch baking pan with plastic wrap.
- Remove “dough” from food processor or blender and place in baking pan. Use your hands to flatten out “dough” making sure it is even and all corners are filled in.
- Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
- Remove from freezer and lift plastic wrap out of pan.
- Cut into 12 bars.
- Store in fridge for several weeks orin freezer for several months
*Make sure your dates are soft. If not, soak them in warm water for 1 hour.
P.S. Don’t forget to enter my Skin Essence Organics giveaway! I am seriously obsessed with this product and jealous of however who wins it!
Yikes. Despite following instructions to the T, mine came out as crumbs. I pressed down, put it in freezer, tried cutting it and put it back in freezer but no dice. Any idea on where I went wrong?
I just looked at the book that came with my food processor and they suggest putting gummy dried fruit in the freezer for ten minutes to minimize sticking/killing the food processor. It worked!
Thanks for the recipe, should make these on Saturday, just me, my husband and Netflix.
You are awesome.
During a move into a new apartment, my food processor’s tab that locks in the lid broke off. Oh yes, I was cheesed. I decided if I shoved a butter knife into the handle to seal the lid I would be ok…meaning I could literally take the lid off WHILE it was processing. It was all fine and dandy until I processed soup and the lid blew off and left an explosion of chunky soup and broken dreams. Sigh…. I think I ordered takeout that night. Good to know that I can make these just as easily with a blender. It is always difficult to get the dough out but when appliances go down, you got to do what you got to do.
Love this combination!!
Nothing better than cherries and pistachios – even in “chunkier” form!
These look so delicious–like Larabars!
exactly!!!
this looks amazing!!! love it <3
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LOL at the best friend vs. food processor question – it’s a tough call! Either way, these sound delicious – loveeeee the tartness of cherries!
I only have a blender and have actually used it for nut butters and it worked really well. But I almost killed my Mom’s nice Cuisinart food processor making nut butter….It started smoking and I didn’t want to responsible for breaking it since she’s had it for YEARS…LOL