Can I Make The Breakfast Bars 2.0 Without Chia Seeds?

Our answer

Nigella's Breakfast Bars 2.0 (from SIMPLY NIGELLA) are made with oats, dried fruits, cocoa nibs and seeds that are mixed with a date purée. You can vary some of the ingredients according to your own taste and what you have in your pantry.

The chia seeds don't really act as a binder in this particular recipe as they are not mixed with enough liquid to cause them to form a gel. For chia pudding you mix the seeds with milk or water and leave this mixture to soak for several hours. This causes the seeds to swell and become gelatinous and this can be used as a binder for some recipes. However, for the bars, the date purée is the main binder and baking the bars also helps to hold them together. Because of the high proportion of seeds, cocoa nibs and dried berries, the bars can be slightly crumbly anyway. We would suggest replacing the chia seeds with another seed, such as sunflower seeds or another of your choice.