Homemade Larabars

Wednesday, 16 March 2011

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Have you ever had a Larabar? They’re the most simple and straightforward energy bar I’ve ever seen. The ingredient list is very short, from 2-9 ingredients and all whole foods – namely dates and nuts plus spices or fruits. They have fun flavors like peanut butter cookie (dates, peanuts and salt) and banana bread (almonds, dates, unsweetened bananas). They also claim to be raw, vegan, gluten free, dairy free, soy free, non-GMO, and kosher. Sounds too good to be true, right? Well, they’re pretty awesome but also pretty expensive (over $1/bar).

Luckily, it’s incredibly easy to make them at home, and you can make them into any size, shape or flavor you want. I tried making cashew cookie and a chocolate/walnut combination and they were actually a bit richer than the store-bought bars. The possible combinations of dried fruits and nuts is almost endless!

What flavor of Larabar would you like to recreate?

Recipe:

Cashew Cookie Larabars

  • 3/4 C dates, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1/2 C cashews
  • Pinch of salt (optional)

Process dates in food processor until finely chopped. Place in a medium bowl. Process cashews in food processor until finely chopped, then add to processed dates. Add salt and mix together with your hands until throughly combined. Then mash the mixture together and form into desired shapes. (If mixture is too crumbly, try applying more pressure. If still too crumbly, add more processed dates.)

Chocolate Larabars

  • 1/2 C dates, pitted and roughly chopped
  • 1/2 C walnuts, chopped
  • 1 to 1 1/2 t cocoa powder (to taste - too much and the bars aren’t sweet at all)
  • 1/8 t vanilla extract

Place chopped dates and walnuts in food processor. Pulse a few times until pieces are fairly small, then add cocoa powder and vanilla and process until throughly combined. Use your hands or place mixture into saran wrap to shape into bars or other shapes.

The entry 'Homemade Larabars' was posted on March 16th, 2011 at 10:00 am and last modified on March 13th, 2011 at 1:38 pm, and is filed under Recipe, Snack, Vegetarian. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

28 Responses to “Homemade Larabars”
  1. Andrea writes:
    No. 1 — March 16th, 2011 at 3:41 pm

    Wow! This is such a great idea! Yummy, healthy, and easy, The only thing – I don’t have a food processor. :(

  2. Andrea writes:
    No. 2 — March 16th, 2011 at 3:43 pm

    Oh, and instead of ‘Larabars’, how about ‘Stephbars’ or ‘Russbars’?

  3. Sandra writes:
    No. 3 — March 16th, 2011 at 6:14 pm

    I love Larabars, great recipe!

  4. Celia writes:
    No. 4 — March 16th, 2011 at 7:03 pm

    You just single-handedly saved my monthly budget! No more store-bought Larabars here!

  5. Emily writes:
    No. 5 — March 16th, 2011 at 9:00 pm

    oh, this is really interesting! I didn’t know Larabars were so easy to make. I love them too.. will have to try this!

  6. Sarah Schiffman writes:
    No. 6 — March 16th, 2011 at 11:21 pm

    Oh I am so trying these! Great post, per usual :)
    Sarah Schiffman recently posted there isnt an answer

  7. Felice - All That's Left Are The Crumbs writes:
    No. 7 — March 16th, 2011 at 11:59 pm

    I love Larabars, and they are quite expensive here, so I am glad that you posted a recipe for them.
    Felice – All That’s Left Are The Crumbs recently posted Pot OGold Cupcakes

  8. Medeja writes:
    No. 8 — March 17th, 2011 at 3:30 am

    No I have never had a Larabar :) but I like this recipe, I just need to buy some cashews :) thanks

  9. Emily @ Life On Food writes:
    No. 9 — March 17th, 2011 at 4:21 am

    I love larabars but I agree they are expensive. I think of them as a special treat. Your recipe is so simple. I cannot wait to try it. Thanks for sharing!
    Emily @ Life On Food recently posted Bedtime stories

  10. Firefly writes:
    No. 10 — March 17th, 2011 at 10:29 am

    Yummy and great recipe. I need to try it!

  11. Charissa writes:
    No. 11 — March 17th, 2011 at 3:15 pm

    This is an awesome idea…can’t wait to try it!
    I would love to see the cookie dough bar recreated!
    Charissa recently posted Green Goodness Smoothie

  12. Kt writes:
    No. 12 — March 17th, 2011 at 3:29 pm

    I’ve never heard of Larabars (may be it’s an American brand?) – but loved the idea and so made them immediately. Very surprised how only 2 or 3 ingredients make such yummy treats …just made almond and date, going shopping tomorrow to buy more nuts and dried fruit to play with! Thank you for sharing this

  13. Stephanie writes:
    No. 13 — March 17th, 2011 at 3:40 pm

    So glad everyone is excited about these! I was too, they’re such an easy money saver.

    Charissa – I’ve never had the cookie dough but that sounds like my type of energy bar! That will be the next one I try.

    KT – yes, they are an American brand. I’m not sure how widespread they are. So glad you tried the recipe and enjoyed it! It’s fun to play aound with different nuts and fruit. Also adding spices like cinnamon is a nice twist.

  14. Maja writes:
    No. 14 — March 18th, 2011 at 5:42 am

    I’ve made larabars before, but never the chocolate version. I bet it’s delicious. I will defninetely try it !

    By the way, I found Larabars in Denmark, but sadly they don’t have them here in Holland.
    Maja recently posted Шакшука Shakshouka

  15. Janna writes:
    No. 15 — March 20th, 2011 at 3:50 am

    I love Larabars and eat them almost daily. My favorite flavors are coconut cream pie and gingersnap. I would make bars with chocolate and coconut.
    Janna recently posted French Macarons- they aren’t as difficult as you think

  16. Louisa writes:
    No. 16 — March 20th, 2011 at 7:23 am

    Yum! These sound delicious and healthy; perfect on the go snack. I can’t wait to try these.
    Louisa recently posted Lous Chicken Wings

  17. laura writes:
    No. 17 — March 21st, 2011 at 1:19 pm

    love it! :) saving to my online cookbook (http://cookmarked.com)

  18. Jaclyn Enchin writes:
    No. 18 — March 22nd, 2011 at 6:11 pm

    love larabars!

    I just started this healthy food photo sharing site: http://healthfreakfood.com/

    I would love it if you submitted your pretty food photos!

  19. nc writes:
    No. 19 — March 31st, 2011 at 11:31 pm

    Does anyone have a base recipe for the Larabars so that all you do is add the different ingredients to create your favorites? I love the peanut butter!! Hmm yummy!

  20. Stephanie writes:
    No. 20 — April 1st, 2011 at 10:12 am

    nc – Basically, take your favorite nut and dates and you have a base for Larabars that you can mess around with. I would try an equal proportion of nuts:dates and add more dates if the texture isn’t quite right. Different nuts give different flavors and obviously adding spices and other dried fruits will add more flavor as well.

    Let me know how it goes for you if you try making your own!

  21. My Top 5 Healthy Snacks & a New Way to Workout at Home | 52 Kitchen Adventures writes:
    No. 21 — January 11th, 2012 at 11:01 am

    [...] (over $1/bar). Luckily, you can make them pretty easily at home. So far I’ve tried making copycat cashew cookie Larabars, copycat chocolate Larabars and (this is similar to Larabars but with some added grains) healthy [...]

  22. Danica writes:
    No. 22 — January 13th, 2012 at 2:35 pm

    LOL… I will totally be calling these “stephybars.” (steffibars? stephibars?)

  23. samantha writes:
    No. 23 — January 16th, 2012 at 11:23 am

    how many bars does it make per “recipe”

  24. Stephanie writes:
    No. 24 — January 16th, 2012 at 4:43 pm

    @samantha – they make the equivalent of around 2 full size Larabars.

  25. Rachel writes:
    No. 25 — March 16th, 2012 at 1:12 pm

    These are Awesome! Just made them today and everyone loved them!

  26. Stephanie writes:
    No. 26 — March 16th, 2012 at 5:26 pm

    @Rachel – that’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! :)

  27. Rachel writes:
    No. 27 — March 17th, 2012 at 10:38 am

    @Stephanie – I tried half raisins and half dates and it worked great! :) Thanks again for this recipe!

  28. Stephanie writes:
    No. 28 — March 17th, 2012 at 12:26 pm

    @Rachel – that’s great! I’ll have to try that out next. Thanks for letting me know how it went :)

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