Lunchbox Granola Bars

These lunchbox granola bars are made from oats, dates, tahini and silan, and bake for only 15 minutes. Every ingredient is vegan, and the bars keep for four days in an airtight container.

What holds the bar together

With no egg and no honey, the binder is the dates and the silan. Blend a cup of pitted dates with the silan and tahini until you have a sticky paste, then mix it with the oats and sunflower seeds. Soft dates blend easily. If the dates are dry, soak them in hot water for 10 minutes and drain.

Raw tahini works better than ready-to-eat tahini, because it is thicker and stickier. If your child's school has no peanut restriction, you can swap it for peanut butter.

A short bake and cutting

Press the mixture firmly into an 8 by 8 inch (20 by 20 cm) pan lined with parchment. Bake for 15 minutes at 350°F (175°C) and cool completely before cutting, because cutting them warm makes the bars crumble. You get 12 bars.

In an airtight container the bars stay soft for four days at room temperature, and up to a week in the fridge. Wrap each bar in parchment so they do not stick together in the box.

Bars for a lunchbox need to survive the school bag. After cooling, put them in the fridge for an hour, and they firm up slightly and hold their shape even on a hot morning. To change the flavor, add a teaspoon of orange zest to the date paste.

You can make the bars at the end of the week and take one out of the freezer each morning. By snack time it has already thawed. The bars contain no eggs, dairy or tree nuts, but check the school's allergen policy before packing them, because sesame and seeds are restricted in some places.