Recipe: Paleo chocolate granola bars

I hadn't really thought to share this recipe until my sister-in-law asked for it, but it is really good! This is a Paleo "granola bar" made out of nuts and dates, and it's a recipe I've tweaked and adapted over the course of a year or so to suit our preferences. Dex in particular loves them and gets one in his lunchbox every day.

Around here (but certainly not in front of our teenage friends) we call them "thingamabobbers," because they kind of resemble a Watchamacallit candy bar.

Thingamabobbers

Grind to a coarse, granola-like texture in a food processor:
1 cup cashews
1 cup pecans
1 cup walnuts
10 pitted Medjool dates

Microwave for 1 minute in a glass measuring cup:
1/2 cup almond butter
2 ounces of unsweetened baking chocolate
2 tablespoons coconut oil
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 tsp salt (or to taste, optional)
1 tablespoon honey or maple syrup (or to taste, optional)

Grease a small baking pan (the size is not too critical) with coconut oil. Stir the warm chocolate mixture until smooth. Stir the granola and the chocolate mixture together in another bowl, and then spread this mixture into the prepared pan with the back of a spoon. Freeze until firm enough to cut into bars. I wrap each individual bar in foil and store them in the freezer for lunches. They are best eaten frozen!