Recipe: Homemade Clif Nectar Bar

Back when I used to think Clif Bars were delicious treats rather than exercise fuel, I loved the one and only Dark Chocolate and Walnut Nectar Bar. 

But then all of a sudden I couldn't find them ANYWHERE, so I became super sad :( Then one day I found a recipe for it and FINALLY made it!!!!!

Homemade Clif Nectar Bar
Adapted from here
20 dates (any kind), pitted
1/2 cup walnuts
2oz semi sweet chocolate chips
2.5tbsp unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions
1. Put walnuts in food processor and pulverize into small pieces.
2. Add the dates with the walnuts in the food processor, and combine until there are tiny pieces (remember, you don't want a paste, just crumbles)
3. Melt the chocolate in the microwave (or double boiler if you want to get fancy)
4. Add melted chocolate, cocoa and vanilla to the processor and blend
5. At this point, the mixture should be crumbly, but should stick together in a smooth ball
6. Put mixture into 8x8 brownie pan (no need to grease) and use your hands to press it down. 
7. Dust with cocoa powder to make it less sticky
8. Bake at 300 degrees for about 12 minutes
9.  Cool them in the pan and then cut them into pieces.

Very crumbly, and yes, it was very hard to take a pretty picture of this hahaha

Overall, it's reallllllllllllly yummy.  If you melted a Fruit and Nut Chocolate Bar and then crumbled it into pieces, it would taste like this. 

Debriefing:
I think they tasted much better the morning after, especially after working out. (Yes, that's right I am actually waking up early to work out, go me!) But this recipe definitely needs to be amended to avoid the crumbles.  I am assuming they would come out better if they were baked in a much smaller pan, so that it isn't such a thin layer.  Or perhaps they would be better if I rolled them into little balls?  Or perhaps the ingredients need to be adjusted.  The original recipe called for 20 dates, but all dates are not created equal - mine were especially small....so that could be another reason. 

Either way, these may not be pretty, but they are DARN tasty if you want a healthy (and super quick) treat, so I don't mind testing and re-testing :)  And even though this is somewhat of an imperfect recipe (the taste is great, the presentation not so much), I still wanted to share it because I thought maybe some of you expert Chefs out there can help me tweak it to achieve the perfect result!