Make Your Own Larabar’s

Only 2 ingredients!!!!

Yes, you read that right!! There are only 2 ingredients in those bars!! And are they ever good. (I kept them pretty much to myself on our trip!! Mostly because I am watching my diet more then the others right now. {More on that later.} )

-I discovered Larabar’s a couple weeks ago.

But seen the price tag as close to $2 a bar. And they are pretty small. So didn’t even bother thinking of trying them. Then when shopping I seen them on sale for $1 a bar, and just had to try them out. They are so GOOD!!!

The best part is they are made only with whole, plain ingredients. And ingredients you can read. Like Dates, Cashews, and salt-‘Cashew Cookie’. Dates, Peanuts, Cherries, and Salt –‘PeanutButter and Jelly’. And so on… No preservatives. Plus they are gluten, and sugar free.

But I figured there had to be a way to make your own. So I started digging online. And came up with some ideas… here, and here… And some different combo ideas here.

So I made myself the ‘Cashew Cookie’ !! They are so very simple and good. And I wanna try a few more flavors…

But basically you need double the amount of dates as you have other ingredients. The dates are the binder. There isn’t any baking or cooking.

Just blend, shape, chill, cut and wrap. Unwrap and eat. (Unless you ate it before you even got it wrapped.;) )

I used 8oz Whole Pitted/Seedless Dates and 1/2 cup of cashews. And it made about 6-8 bars (depending how flat you roll them).

Process your nuts, in a food processor, to a course grind. Leaving some pieces ‘biggish’ yet. I did my first one a bit to fine, but it was still ok. Just not so many nut pieces.

Then process your dates, until they are all ground up. Do the nuts first, as the dates make the dish very sticky.

Mix together. It’s easiest to use your hands. And just knead like you would bread dough until all the nuts are incorporated into the dates.

Place mixture on a piece of Saran wrap, fold other end over. Using a rolling pin roll out to whatever thickness you want, 1/2 in. or so. I used a knife to keep edges ‘kind of’ straight and squared up.

Put in the fridge for 1/2-1 hr to firm up. Then cut into bars and wrap in Saran wrap, individually.

I did try another flavor then…

Chocolate Coconut Chew

8 oz Whole Dates

1/2 C. Almonds and a bit of Cashews

1/4 C. Coconut – fine

1 TBS Cocoa Powder

1/4 tsp Real Sea Salt

I actually liked this one best of the two I made!! Maybe it’s because I rarely get chocolate anymore, so it indulged my ‘chocolate tooth’!!!

Now I’m going to have fun playing around with more flavors…

Linked to Heavenly Homemakers Gluten Free Recipe Parade.