Nectarine Oat Bars

I'm loving nectarines right now :) They're gorgeous, juicy and in season so what's not to like? For this recipe, I got my inspiration from a recipe from Thug Kitchen and their strawberry bars. I've changed a few things - mostly replace the brown sugar with more naturally sweet ingredients I really like and tolerate better. So here we are. It is DELICIOUS, keeps up to 5 days in the fridge - if it does make it that long - it never does in my household!

Makes 12 bars:

Ingredients for the filling:
6 organic nectarines
1 tablespoon lime juice
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon maple syrup

Ingredients for the base:
2 cup rolled oats
2 heaped spoons of nut butter of your choice (I used almond/hazelnut and cashew)
2 heaped tablespoons of softened coconut oil
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon maple syrup
6 pitted Medjool or Deglet Noor dates

Method:
Line a rectangular baking dish (mine is 17 X 27cm) with baking paper and grease it a little with coconut oil. Heat up your oven to 180° C.
Dice up the peaches, getting rid of the pits. Mix with the lime juice, vanilla and syrup and set aside.
In a food processor, mix the oats, nut butter, coconut oil, baking soda, syrup and dates until it forms a sort of crumble.

Press the mixture into the dish quite firmly. You can save a little to put on top later. Pour out the juice made by the nectarines (you can drink it later or use it in a smoothie) and press the fruits gently into the crumbly mixture. Top with the rest of the crumble and a handful of sliced almonds (optional).
Bake for about 40 minutes until the top or/and almonds becomes golden brown. Cool completely before cutting into slices. (I love them straight out of the oven!) Store in the fridge.