Homemade Larabars

I love a good Larabar. Super clean, few ingredients, and something easy and convenient to grab on the go . (Or throw into your diaper bag on your way to a church potluck.) If you haven’t check out the product, I highly suggest you do.

But if you’d rather, you can make them yourself.

I mentioned in a previous post that homemade Larabars are part of my prep list for snacks during my Whole 30 challenge, and they really are great to have around.

This recipe is so stinking simple, and really doesn’t take much time or effort. The only bummer about this recipe is that it takes a lot of cashews, which aren’t a cheap nut. But go ahead and try them with other nuts (like almonds) and see how you like it.

I recently just made a batch since we’re starting the second half of our Whole 30 challenge. (15 days to go!! Hello, Tiger blood!) It took me probably a total of ten minutes from start to finish.

They don’t need to stay chilled in the fridge, but I prefer them there. They stay firm, and I just think they taste better cold. But, to each his own. I will mention, that the bars probably last about a week, but the fridge can extend that a little longer, if they last that long. They’re REALLY good.

Best part? You need three ingredients.

So get yourself a good food processor and some parchment paper and lets get cracking.

I use about 3 cups of salted cashews. Go ahead and get raw unsalted and all that, but I like the salt. I like to pulse up the cashews first to make sure they are ground nice and fine. I don’t want a lot of big chunks of cashew in my “larabar”. You can do whatever you want though, you’re an adult.

When the cashews are nice and blitzed, take the cover off and sniff. Do it. Smells good, doesn’t it? I know. Enjoy those simple things in life.

Add about 3 cups pitted dates. You can chop them roughly prior which will make things a little easier, or be lazy like me and toss them in. Whatever floats your boat. Pulse a few times to get it started and then turn on and mix. You will probably have to stop every once in a while and scrape down the sides with a rubber spatula. (Consider it your arm workout for the day.)

As the cashews and dates mix up, drizzle in about 2-3 Tbsp or melted coconut oil. The amount varies, just depends on how much you need to make the mixture come together into a rough ball. When it starts clumping together, turn off mixture and dump onto a sheet of parchment paper.

I like to press it together into a nice “dough” ball. That way you can try and keep all the little crumbs as combined as possible. You may want to wet your hands if it’s sticking at all.

Roll out into a rectangle, forming with your hands if needed. I roll out to about 1/4 of and inch give or take. ( I don’t get out a ruler and measure, but you certainly can if your OCD kicks in.)

Use a dough scraper or knife to cut into equal sized bars. Go ahead and get crazy with this. Mine are usually rectangles, but go nuts and make whatever you heart desires. Or really shake things up and skip this step completely and roll chunks of the mixture into balls to make “energy” or “larabar” bites. It’s all good.

Separate with sheets of parchment and store in the fridge. Once chilled, enjoy!