Place the almonds, dates, cacao or cocoa powder and vanilla extract in a food processor or a high-power blender.

Blend for about 1 minute until crumbly and evenly combined. You may need to stop the motor and scrape down the edges of the bowl once or twice.

Add 2–3 tablespoons of water if the dates are hard and don’t break down readily.

Continue processing for another 1–2 minutes until the ingredients clump together to form a ball.

Take the sticky ball out of the processor.

Press or roll the sticky ball between two sheets of baking parchment or cling film to a 1 cm (1⁄2 in) thickness. Alternatively, press into an 18 x 18 cm (7 x 7 in) baking tin lined with cling film.

Refrigerate for 1 hour or so until firm.

Peel off the parchment and cut into bars, approximately 10 x 2 cm (4 x 3⁄4 in).

Wrap in cling film or foil to store.

Energy bar recipe: fruit and nut bars that require only four ingredients