Almond Date Breakfast Bars

This recipe appealed to me right away. Its another one that I adapted from from Smitten Kitchen- Deb Perelman. I like almonds, I like dates, I had most of the ingredients so decided to go for it. In the description of the recipe, the author says that its great to have breakfast bars on hand to grab for a quick breakfast. I usually have a leisurely breakfast at home, and thought pff, i don't need a breakfast for work or on the go. However, after being late several times last week, I decided this was not a bad idea.
It is  also good crumbled up as granola, with yogurt and fruit- yumm!

Ingredients:
- 1 cup pitted chopped dates
- 1 1/4 cup rolled oats
- 3 tablespoons whole wheat flour
- 1/3 cup wheat germ ( I was so impressed that I had this!)
- 1/2 cup thinly chopped almonds
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/4 tsp cinnamon
- 1/4 cup almond butter or nut butter of choice (possibly add a bit more to make sure everything sticks!)
- 1/4 cup olive oil (or coconut oil or vegetable oil)
- 1/4 cup honey
- 1/4 teaspoon orange zest
- 1/4 tsp almond or vanilla extract

Directions: 
- Preheat oven to 350, and line an 8x8 inch pan with parchment paper.
- Stir together dates, oats, flour, wheat germ, almonds salt and cinammon in a large bowl.
- In a separate bowl, combine almond butter, oil, honey, zest and extract
- Stir wet ingredients into dry ingredients and mix until evenly coated. Put into prepared pan and press down evenly intot he bottom of the pan
- Bake for 20-25 minutes until brown on the edges
- Cool for 20-30 minutes and then cut into bars.

Enjoy!!