Homemade Larabars

Larabars

This is something I wish I had done A LONG LONG TIME AGO! I found myself at Safeway the other night and stumbled upon Larabars. I'd had them before and decided to buy a box as a treat to myself.

Well. I got home, ripped one open, took a big bite and looked at the wrapper to see what exactly what was in them.

This is what it said: Pitted dates, Peanuts, Peanut butter.

I almost cried. That's all that's in them? Why am I paying $10 A BOX FOR THESE BABIES?

I was pretty furious.

So the next day I set out to figure out how to make my own larabars, and I have to say, I like them BETTER than the ones I paid $2 a bar for at the store. 

Maybe because I added chocolate.

I found this base recipe and decided to expand on it since I don't like to copy other recipes exactly and like putting my own twist on things.

Anyway. What happened that night was pretty magical. Here's how you do it.

Ingredients:

1 cup pitted dates (I think I got prunes, it still worked)

1/2 cup shredded coconut

1/4 cup dry roasted peanuts (they were salted)

1 tbsp. chocolate chips

1 tbsp coconut oil (This is why I use it in everything)

1/4 cup peanut butter

1/2 tsp vanilla

Steps:

1) Assemble your ingredients.

2) Dump it all in a blender/food processor. (I used a blender and think it might have been way easier and faster to use a processor, but it worked nonetheless.)

3) Pulse, blend, do whatever until it looks a bit gooey. There will still be some bits of chocolate and dates/prunes that aren't blended, but that's ok.

4) Press mixture into a loaf pan lined with parchment paper.

5) OPTIONAL: Melt some extra chocolate chips and drizzle on top and top with extra coconut. But that's only for the overachievers.

6) Pop into the refrigerator until they firm up a bit. 

7) Cut into pieces and try to not eat them ALL AT ONCE!

These are gluten free, dairy free (If you omit chocolate) and seriously so so so so delicious.

There are lots of variations, so you can add whichever nut, nut butter, or anything else. I've also seen people use oatmeal instead of coconut. Whatever, I'm sure that's delicious too.

I think I will be trying a coconut mocha one soon, so stay posted for that.

Cost was under $5 for all ingredients and I have enough left over to make a second batch, so less than $2.50 for six bars is something I can live with for sure.

As far as nutritional information, these babies have around 215 calories each.

UPDATE: Since this post, I've made these bars another time. I chopped up all the dates first in my blender then blended everything together in two batches. Does that make sense? Anyway, it was a lot easier to get everything integrated, although I do not mind that these aren't perfectly smooth. A bit of crunch is always good for a snack food and these have been eaten faster than those I actually purchased.