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.
29 Comments on Homemade Larabars
2Pingbacks & Trackbacks on Homemade Larabars
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[…] (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 […]
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[…] similar! I’ve never had a Larabar before so I didn’t know much about them. I found this recipe, and it tastes just as good as the store-bought bar. I experimented and came up with a few more […]
Andrea
March 16, 2011 at 3:41 pm (14 years ago)Wow! This is such a great idea! Yummy, healthy, and easy, The only thing – I don’t have a food processor. 🙁
Andrea
March 16, 2011 at 3:43 pm (14 years ago)Oh, and instead of ‘Larabars’, how about ‘Stephbars’ or ‘Russbars’?
Sandra
March 16, 2011 at 6:14 pm (14 years ago)I love Larabars, great recipe!
Celia
March 16, 2011 at 7:03 pm (14 years ago)You just single-handedly saved my monthly budget! No more store-bought Larabars here!
Emily
March 16, 2011 at 9:00 pm (14 years ago)oh, this is really interesting! I didn’t know Larabars were so easy to make. I love them too.. will have to try this!
Sarah Schiffman
March 16, 2011 at 11:21 pm (14 years ago)Oh I am so trying these! Great post, per usual 🙂
Sarah Schiffman recently posted there isnt an answer
Felice - All That's Left Are The Crumbs
March 16, 2011 at 11:59 pm (14 years ago)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
Medeja
March 17, 2011 at 3:30 am (14 years ago)No I have never had a Larabar 🙂 but I like this recipe, I just need to buy some cashews 🙂 thanks
Emily @ Life On Food
March 17, 2011 at 4:21 am (14 years ago)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
Firefly
March 17, 2011 at 10:29 am (14 years ago)Yummy and great recipe. I need to try it!
Charissa
March 17, 2011 at 3:15 pm (14 years ago)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
Kt
March 17, 2011 at 3:29 pm (14 years ago)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
Stephanie
March 17, 2011 at 3:40 pm (14 years ago)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.
Maja
March 18, 2011 at 5:42 am (14 years ago)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
Janna
March 20, 2011 at 3:50 am (14 years ago)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
Louisa
March 20, 2011 at 7:23 am (14 years ago)Yum! These sound delicious and healthy; perfect on the go snack. I can’t wait to try these.
Louisa recently posted Lous Chicken Wings
laura
March 21, 2011 at 1:19 pm (14 years ago)love it! 🙂 saving to my online cookbook (http://cookmarked.com)
Jaclyn Enchin
March 22, 2011 at 6:11 pm (14 years ago)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!
nc
March 31, 2011 at 11:31 pm (14 years ago)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!
Stephanie
April 1, 2011 at 10:12 am (14 years ago)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!
Danica
January 13, 2012 at 2:35 pm (13 years ago)LOL… I will totally be calling these “stephybars.” (steffibars? stephibars?)
samantha
January 16, 2012 at 11:23 am (13 years ago)how many bars does it make per “recipe”
Stephanie
January 16, 2012 at 4:43 pm (13 years ago)@samantha – they make the equivalent of around 2 full size Larabars.
Rachel
March 16, 2012 at 1:12 pm (13 years ago)These are Awesome! Just made them today and everyone loved them!
Stephanie
March 16, 2012 at 5:26 pm (13 years ago)@Rachel – that’s great! I’m so glad you enjoyed them! 🙂
Rachel
March 17, 2012 at 10:38 am (13 years ago)@Stephanie – I tried half raisins and half dates and it worked great! 🙂 Thanks again for this recipe!
Stephanie
March 17, 2012 at 12:26 pm (13 years ago)@Rachel – that’s great! I’ll have to try that out next. Thanks for letting me know how it went 🙂