Everyday Paleo Fruit N’ Nut Bars

I recently posted on my Facebook page a quick recap of the recipe we created at home which was similar to what most folks recognize as a Lara Bar. The Lara Bar is a bar made primarily of dried fruit, dates and nuts. My kids love these bars and I will continue to purchase them now and then but making my own has proven to be extremely cost effective, fun, and incredibly easy. Even better – we can make unique creations and experiment with different flavor options!

Here are three different types of bars we made this week. These bars have been super handy to toss into lunch boxes or to grab for a quick snack in the car or after school. I hope you enjoy and post to comments some of the creations or ideas you and your family come up with!

Apricot Bars

½ cup raw almonds

1 cup raw pecans

¼ teaspoon sea salt

12 Medjool dates

1 cup dried apricots (unsweetened)

Spice Bars

1 cup raw almonds

½ cup roasted cashews

1/4 teaspoon sea salt

20 Medjool dates

1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice

Coconut-Cherry Bars

1 cup raw almonds

½ cup raw pecans

12 Medjool dates

1 cup dried cherries (unsweetened)

2 tablespoon coconut oil

1/2 cup finely shredded coconut flakes (unsweetened)

¼ teaspoon salt

The directions are the same for the first two recipes with only a couple minor differences for the coconut cherry bars. For whichever bar you decided to make, follow these steps:

1) In a food processor, pulse only the nuts and the sea salt until finely chopped but still chunky. Some will be ground up almost like almond meal but they will not all be consistent, and that’s totally ok.

2)Pour your nuts into a mixing bowl.

3)Add the dried dates and other dried fruit to the food processor and process until it makes a paste (it will probably turn into a giant sticky ball when it’s done).

4) For the last recipe, add the coconut oil to the dates and cherries and process the three items together.

5) Add the date mixture to the nuts and use your hands to kneed the nuts and the dates together until well mixed (this is messy but fun). For the last recipe, pour the coconut flakes into the bowl with the nuts and then add the date mixture and kneed away.

6) Grease a baking sheet with either grass fed butter or coconut oil.

7) Make a big ball out of your bar mixture and push it down onto your greased baking sheet. Cover the ball with some plastic wrap and using a rolling pin (or a bottle of wine if you don’t own a rolling pin), roll out the mixture to your desired thickness. I like mine about 1/2 an inch thick or a little less.

Cut the rolled out mixture into the desired shape and amount that you would like. I did not make mine as big as the store bought Lara Bars because they are often too big for my kids and making them into small approximately 2 inch squares seems to be perfect for us!

Each recipe makes about 15 bars and I figured it cost approximately .50 cents per bar, so that’s about 45 bars for $22! I purchased the dates and nuts from Trader Joes and the dried cherries and apricots from my local health food store.

Enjoy!

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