Homemade Larabars

Larabars are a delicious and healthy snack or "dessert" to top off lunch.  You can find Larabars at most grocery stores.  If you eat them as often as we do, then you probably want to start making your own to save money.  There are so many wonderful homemade Larabar recipes and I have included several of them below.

Most (if not all) of these recipes call for dates.  I buy dried pitted whole dates.  Even though they are pitted, I still slice each one open and make sure the pit (or part of the pit) isn't still left in there.  Pits are very hard and would really hurt if you bit down on it.  I have found one or two dates that still had part of the pit in it, so I am glad I always check.  Also, you can buy dates that are already chopped into pieces.  Don't buy these, as the ones I've seen has Dextrose added to the dates, where as the whole pitted dates are JUST DATES.

Another helpful hint....once I get all the ingredients combined in the food processor and shaped into a large rectangle (on parchment paper, which is on a baking sheet), I stick it in the freezer for about 30 minutes.  I have found that they are easier to cut into bars if they have had a little time to freeze.

I haven't tried all the recipes listed below, but they all sound delicious and I wanted to share them all with my readers.  So far, we've tried (and constantly keep on hand) the Apple Pie Larabar recipe from Rawified and the amended Cashew Cookie Larabar recipe from 100 Days of Real Food.  I hope you get a chance to make some soon and make sure you get back with me and let me know what you think!

Enjoy!

~Davis

100 Days of Real Food has four recipes on their site: Cashew Cookie Larabar, Granola Larabar, Peanut Butter Larabar, and Nut-Free Larabar (click here for these four recipes).  I really like the Cashew Cookie Larbar recipe, but adjusted the recipe a little (see below).  My husband and I think these taste like Nutter Butters.  We make these all the time.  

Here are the ingredients I use: 

-1 cup dates

-1 cup raw mixed unsalted nuts (instead of cashews).  I found raw cashews at The Fresh Market and they are fairly pricey, but Target sells a 30 oz. container of these mixed nut for much cheaper.  The mixed nuts consist of: cashews, almonds, pistachios, hazelnuts and walnuts. 

-1/4 cup peanut butter

-1 Tablespoon water

-1/2 - 1 tsp. vanilla (not in original recipe)

Rawified offers recipes for 20 different flavors of larabars: Apple Pie**, Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffin, Cappuccino, Carrot Cake, Cashew Cookie, Cherry Pie, Chocolate Chip Brownie, Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, Chocolate Coconut Chew, Coconut Cream Pie, Ginger Snap, Key Lime Pie, Lemon Bar, Peanut Butter & Jelly, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, Peanut Butter Cookie, Pecan Pie and Tropical Fruit Tart.  This site also offers a guide to make your own flavor Larabars.  We obviously haven't tried all of these flavors yet, but have tried the Apple Pie recipe and love it!  It's definitely another one of our favorites!   click here for all the RAWIFIED LARABAR recipes



click here for the APPLE PIE LARABAR recipe (different than the one that I've tried and that's mentioned above)
(from: Real Food. Real Deals.)
Ingredients:
-raw walnuts
-dried apples**
-dates
-cinnamon
-ginger
-salt

Real Food. Real Deals. has several other Larabar recipes that look yummy:  Chocolate, Banana, & Mango Lime Coconut (click here for these three Larabar recipes).


**Dried Apples: I was never able to find Apple Chips at Kroger or Publix, but did find them at The Fresh Market.  The Ingredients for these Apple Chips from TFM are: Apple Chips, Canola Oil and Dextrin.  I wanted to find Apple Chips that were just dried apples, but couldn't.  I remembered a recipe I had cut out of Whole Living Magazine a while back for Apple Chips.  I used this method for making my own Apple Chips to go into the Apple Pie Larabars we make and it worked perfect.  I love knowing that just my dried organic apples are going into these bars and not canola oil and Dextrin!  click here for the APPLE CHIPS recipe



click here for the CASHEW COOKIE LARABAR recipe
(from: Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth)
Ingredients:
-dates
-raw unsalted cashews
-water



click here for the GINGERSNAP LARABAR recipe
(from: So I Married A Chef)
Ingredients:
-dates
-fresh ginger
-cinnamon
-cloves
-raw almonds
-raw pecans

All the ingredients for the Apple Pie Larabars in the food processor. 

All mixed together.

About to put this in the freezer for 20-30 minutes.

All done!  YUMMY!

My sliced apples are about to go into the oven.

Homemade Apple Chips for the Apple Pie Larabars.