No-Bake Nutty Date Bark Recipe

Snacking on sweet treats is always enjoyable, but it's even better when those treats are based on something as healthy as dates. Dates, like prunes, are packed with beneficial fiber, and they are also sweet enough to serve as a sugar substitute while at the same time maintaining a low glycemic index. As developer Catherine Brookes says of this recipe, "This date bark is my absolute go to snack right now."

While Brookes enthuses that "The sweetness of the dates and dark chocolate pair perfectly with the salty peanut butter and crunch of the almonds," she does say "There's plenty of room to switch up ingredients" if you'd like to make a few tweaks to better suit your individual taste. If you prefer to replace the almonds Brookes uses with pistachios, peanuts, or heart-healthy walnuts (we should all be eating more of these), you can certainly make this swap, and you can also use milk or white chocolate chips if you enjoy these varieties more than the dark kind.

You'll only need four ingredients to make this date bark, these being medjool dates, peanut butter, almonds, and chocolate chips. One note on the peanut butter: While Brookes says she likes to use the natural kind, explaining that "it tends to be runnier and easier to drizzle [or] spread out over the dates," there's no need to go out and purchase it if you have a supermarket brand of creamy peanut butter on hand. Just give it a few seconds in the microwave and it, too, will melt to the point where you can easily spread it on top of the dates. If all you have is chunky peanut butter, that's okay too as this will just give you some extra nuts to add to the crunch.

The first step in making date bark involves splitting the dates down the middle lengthwise and removing any seeds you find inside. Once this is done, arrange the dates on a baking sheet (Brookes did five rows of four dates each) and press them down with your hands or perhaps the back of a plate or a bowl. As Brookes tells us, the purpose of this is to get an even layer of dates. "This," she says, "will make it much easier to add the toppings."

Spread the peanut butter out in a nice even layer so that it covers all of the dates, then sprinkle it with the almonds or other nuts. Now melt the chocolate in the microwave, giving it 30 seconds, then stirring, and repeating as necessary until you have smooth melted chocolate. Spread this over the peanut butter and nuts, making sure that these ingredients are entirely covered.

Put the pan of date bark into the refrigerator and let it sit for at least an hour, maybe more. Once the chocolate has hardened, you may then cut the date bark into pieces. Don't worry if they don't turn out perfectly even, as bark is a candy not known for its symmetry. Once chopped, the date bark can be stored in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.