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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Interesting, so you don’t bake these at all?
Nope! No need to bake them and they hold together amazingly well!
This is a great way to make some easy snacks and its so much cheaper. I’ve made these before and they turned out great. You can also throw them in the dehydrator if needed, to take away some of the “sticky”
Good ideas! I’m making them as well at home, but want to experiment with other flavors. I usually just put everything in the food processor and then make small balls and chill them in the fridge.
I love the idea of fruit & nuts balls! Thanks.
These sound great and Lara bars are so expensive. How long do they keep? What is the best way to store them. Thanks!
These sound great and Lara bars are so expensive. How long do they keep? What is the best way to store them. Thanks!
It was great meeting you at AHS
I have been keeping them in a airtight container in the fridge and I have a feeling they would last a very long time being that it’s only fruit and nuts!! Great to meet you as well Michelle! : )
Those look so tasty. I definitely have to give that recipe a try.
These look just like larabars! (and I’m sure they taste just like them too!) Thank you so much for the recipe, I am totally going to try these!
I’ve been wanting a homemade Lara bar recipe! I can’t wait to make these for myself and save some big bucks!!
I am SO excited to try this! I’m living in a dorm, so not having to bake these is going to make my life so much simplier! Not to mention the money I’ll save! :]
YUM! I love making my own LARA bars. Definitely like the coconut cherry one.
Can’t wait to make these. Thank you for sharing. Do you have to melt the coconut oil before adding it to the Coconut Cherry recipe? My husband LOVES cherries and I know he’ll want me to make that particular one immediately.
Yes, I would melt it first!
My kids LOVE Lara bars. I will try these recipes soon! I love the way the cherry coconut sounds! Thanks
If you grease or oil your hands before kneading it will prevent the sticky hands. May need to reaply oil.
Thanks for the tip Becky!
I try not to get too caught up in the fructose argument but am curious about your thoughts, considering your recipes (and Lara Bars) are sweetened mostly using dates.
I suggest using common sense with anything that seems like a treat. If you are sustaining your life on these bars, it’s probably not such a great idea of if you are trying to make some body composition shifts I would not recommend eating these all of the time but for families with kids or for a snack now and then, I say go for it, it’s real food. However, like with anything else, folks need to decide for themselves if this is something they should be eating and if so how often.
Great answer. Thank you.
Once again, you never cease to amaze me. Thanks! Can you now wow with me a zucchini muffin recipe? Something easy, nothing fancy, using just coconut or almond meal flour?Thanks.
Hmmmm, I’ll see what I can do!! : )
I hate pecans/walnuts. What can I substitute? More almonds or is there something else?
I would just use all almonds or even macadamias would be good!
I did all almonds and even my wife who doesnt like cherries or coconut all that much loved it!
What do you think about adding protein into these? could you add egg white protein in do you think? That is one of the reasons I stopped eating Lara bars, they were mainly carbs…
I don’t know what it would be like to add egg white protein to these bars. You could always try!! : )
This idea will be handy when our apricot tree at our new house bears fruit. Anyone have any Paleo ideas for figs?
I love figs and have heard of people wrapping them in bacon and grilling them but I haven’t tried that yet myself, but maybe now that I think about it more, I will! : )
OMG I have had these before and they are amazing. I *think* the figs were soaked in something before hand but can’t remember.
These are dates, not figs, but I think they work the same. I was looking for another recipe I saw that I thought I had saved, but I hadn’t. Either way, I have yet to make these. Bacon-wrapped Dates: http://www.joyfulabode.com/2010/12/23/baconwrapped-dates/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+JoyfulAbode+%28Joyful+Abode%29
Hi Sarah!
I am a larabar lover as well and have been making them for a while and I have a variation to share with you! I make Key Lime Larabars. I use the same method you do. Here’s the recipe-
1/3 c. dates, 1/2 c. raw cashews, ¼ c coconut, 1 t. lime zest 1/2 tsp. vanilla, 2 T. lime juice
Love love LOVE your blog! I am a huge fan of everything you are doing!
~Margaret
Yum, that sounds great!! Thanks so much for sharing Margaret!! : )
Thanks for the recipe! I’m always afraid to make homemade packaged food but these really do turn out just like the originals. Hubby voted your cherry version better because of the coconut.
I ended up making apple flavored ones with one cup dried apples instead of apricots, and added a tablespoon of cinnamon to the mix.
Also, my fruit didn’t make a very good paste(for the apples or the cherries) and wouldn’t stick into bars, but adding a tablespoon of water or two and reblending everything in the food processor did the trick.
The apple ones sound great Nancy, I’ll have to try that, thank you!
Sarah,
Are medjool dates hard to find? And where do you typically find them? These look yummy. I can’t wait to try them. Thanks!
I buy medjool dates from either Trader Joe’s or Costco so typically they are not too hard to find. You can also often find them in the produce section of major grocery stores! : )
Sarah,
Any particualr reason you did not buy the dried fruit (cherries and apricots) at TJ’s as well? The TJ’s I go to actually carries unsulfated apricots as well. Would these make to dry a bar?
Yvette
No reason except for I was at the health food store, saw the dried fruit I needed, and bought it. : )
We have made a breakfast cereal out of a similar recipe. Using a food processor, I put in raw almonds and cashews, raisins, dates and coconut. I let it get to the consistancy that I like (have tried more ground and more chunky versions), add some salt and coconut oil, then put it in a glass bowl and refrigerate it. The coconut oil hardens up making it ‘chunky’. I don’t have any measurements but no matter what you can’t mess up. I usually have it with more nuts than dried fruit. I spoon some out and pour milk (whatever variety you use) over it. My family loves it. Too much. We have to limit it.
Hi – you just make homemade Laura Bars – Delicious and healthy, within limits, of course.
Sorry – wrote before I read…
SO FREAKING DELICIOUS! Seriously, these are just like the Lara Bars. Many times people will try to mimic a recipe, but this really is amazing and just like the real thing. I’m very new to Paleo and I’m really struggling with the no dairy part as many of my mornings were cereal in a cup on my way to work. I don’t always have time to make eggs, so I made these bars as a quick breakfast bar and they are so delicious. Now if I can just keep my husband from popping them like popcorn!
We’ve been making a slight variation for a while and the kids love it – ground nuts, dates, a bit of shredded coconut, some coconut oil and a spoon of unsweetened cocoa powder. If only there was a “nut free” version they could take to school!
Another trick is, instead of using a baking sheet, we press it by hand into a baking tin lined with platic wrap so the finished piece is rectangular, though still thin. Makes it easier to cut into squares without all the jagged edge bits that always seemed to fall apart.
I LOVE your blog and recipes Sarah
These sound similar to the paleo truffles I make for my kids school lunches. I use fewer dates (maybe 6 dates to 1.5 cups nuts), a little coconut oil, a teaspoon of unsweetened baking cocoa – whizz in the food processor and then shape into balls and roll in either baking cocoa (my 7 year old doesn’t like coconut threads) or coconut threads. The kids think they are a candy, lol, and they are absolutely delicious and look like a ‘regular’ truffle. Only problem is Mama really likes them too!
Thanks!
We are not yet 100% paleo here, but are making great strides, a lot of which are due to your website and podcast. Book is in the mail from Amazon
Do you pit the dates? Or does your food processor handle those? Or is Trader Joe’s just so wonderful that they are already pitted? Mine made some weird noises, I peeked in and was able to pull 12 lovely little pits out. I got my dates from the bulk section at our local HEB (Texas chain grocery store that is really quite nice). I was also surprised that the fruit mixture was harder than the nut mixture to process – shaking all over the counter. What kind of food processor do you use?
ok, 4 questions is all I’ll ask. I made the cherry coconut – I wish you coined the “yum-o” phrase, not Rachel Ray….. these bars are yum-o for sure!
Please for the love of God, pit your dates if you’re using Medjool dates! I almost broke a tooth on my first bite. I had to pick through the sticky mess looking for all the other pits.
That being said, these turned out great! This was the first thing I made with our brand new Cuisinart 9-cup food processor (wedding gift). Thanks for the great recipe!
Yes, for SURE pit your dates!! : )
Can’t wait to try these. Now I won’t have to watch out for the sales at Raley’s (:
Hurray!!! : )
I believe cashews are non paleo
Cashew’s Paleo? This is a commonly debated issue. Cordain put’s them on the good list, they are not a legume. Other paleo advocates say no to cashews. I always say go by how you feel! What’s great about this recipe is nuts are interchangeable : )
Sounds yummy! Especially the one with cherries.
P.S. It’s “knead”, not “kneed”. (Mentioned twice in #5)
these look great but i strongly dislike dates & figs. any suggestions for substitutes?
I made these with my kids who weren’t keen on dates. I figured that the dates were an important ‘gooey’ component that would hold the bar together so I substituted 1/2 of the dates for a similar amount of dried cranberries.
Worked fine and the kids loved them!
Prunes and apricots should work. They’re less sugary than dates too.
Our local WFoods doesn’t sell Larabars, but an even more expensive option, at $3.29. And you’re right: it’s about the same size as a Larabar and both are just too much for any of us. We split them every time… except there’s five of us paleo-maniacs and so one half is always stuck to the side of my wallet at the end of the day.
Gonna make these tomorrow!
I tried the cherry and coconut variation. I used walnuts as I did not have pecans. Very tasty except I believe it needs more coconut oil as mine were very crumbly and did not stick together after I “kneaded” the heck out of it. But am enjoying it anyway.
I tried to like Lara Bars, but couldn’t do it…there was always an off taste (maybe from the wrapper?). These bars, however, ARE AMAZING!!! I did the coconut recipe and can not imagine my fridge without them in it. My friends are hooked, too
I’m thinking of adding shredded carrots for a kind of carrot cake-sans the cake.
THANKS AGAIN FOR ANOTHER GREAT RECIPE, SARAH!!
Made three batches tonight and YUM! Coconut cherry, cherry, and chocolate coconut (altered the cherry coconut recipe by swapping 6 more dates instead of cherries and added 2T unsweetened cocoa). Thanks for sharing!
I made these and they are super yummy! Yet another snack that will aid me with converting the BF
I have always been bad rolling out anything, so I formed mine into balls and rolled them in super fine coconut flakes.
Thanks again for a rocking recipe. And thank you Margaret for posting a Key Lime recipe, those are my fave!
I LOVE the peanut butter cookie larabars. I would be forever indebted to you if you could tell me how to make these.
Hi! I am a really huge fan of your blog and have been delighted with the recipes that I’ve tried out at home. I really want to try this recipe but am unfortunately allergic to almonds. What (if any) would be an acceptable nut substitute?
Just made these – kinda combined both recipes and fiddled a bit. Mixed cashews, almonds, dates, apricots and dried cranberries. Super easy and yummy! But how do you store them?
I store them in an airtight container in the fridge!
FYI, leave out the pumpkin pie spice and add two heaping tbsp cocoa powder and they qualify as “candy bars” for six year olds. I have had to hand out the “candy bar” recipe to two mommies.
What is the difference between Medjool dates and regular dates?
Hi, Love the blog. Such useful tips for making paleo seem achievable. So my question is for someone who is new to the paleo scene, and is trying to lose weight.. how often would you allow yourself one of these bars? Thanks!
Hi Vanessa! If you are trying to lean out, I would treat these like at treat or honestly avoid them all together for a while unless you can make sure you only eat a very small amount every now and then. : )
Because I tried to use a mini food processor in the beginning, I ended up having to put all ingredients back into my big processor and I ended up with fruit n nut balls…then rolled em in unsweetened fine coconut. .Tomorrow I will attempt the bars again because the balls were absolutely yum!
Holy moly, I just made the coconut cherry recipe & it came out amazing. I’m having to use serious restraint to prevent myself eating the entire tray in 1 sitting. Many thanks for the recipe!
I just made these in less time than it takes my son and I to decide which Lara bars to buy – so easy!! I used prunes (shhh, don’t tell my son, he thinks they are dried plums
) and almonds since that is what I had on hand, through in a generous shake of cinnamon and they worked like a dream! Freezing them briefly to make cutting and storing easier. Thanks so much!
I just made the Apricot Bars and OMG they are delicious. I had to add a little more dates and apricots, but other than that…perfection!!! I will be making so many versions of these in the coming months. My 3 year old has found another paleo snack to add to his repertoire
THANK YOU!!!!
You are very welcome! Too funny but I just made a batch too but instead of apricots this time I used dried figs, a few dried cherries, and a bunch of cinnamon and just walnuts. SOOO GOOD!!!
Made the cherry coconut today — BIG hit!! Thanks for the great recipe.
I had stopped buying the kids Lara bars because they were too expensive and disappeared way too fast. I don’t know if this version is that much cheaper, since I had to buy everything except the almonds that I already had on hand, but they are tasty and my son and I had a blast making them together.
*UPDATE*
I have made these three times with great success using Medjool dates. Thought I would try with a different kind of dates I found in the bulk aisle — Peglet (sp?), since they were about 1/4 the price of the Medjool.
Uh, yeah…. not so good. Flavor is nice, but the dates were smaller and not as moist. I tried to compensate for the size by nearly doubling the number of dates (they’re roughly half the size of the Medjool), but it still didn’t work. The bars are crumbly and don’t hold together well.
But they still taste great!
Amy, I had the same problem. Who knows what a medjool date is, anyway? I live in rural Arkansas. Arkansas is Fat! I can see why, too. We are so limited in our choice of available foods. I think I am going to try the prunes, instead, next time.
Sarah, love you and your blog. You seem so nice!! I am just starting this Paleo journey.
Thanks Claudette! Here’s a link about medjool dates and where you can buy them on line. : ) http://nuts.com/driedfruit/dates/jumbo-medjool.html?gclid=CIbF5N6Awa0CFQdjhwodoniFBg
See, Sarah? You absolutely ARE the great person that I think you are! Thank you for the website. My Stepdaughter set me on Paleo and I am loving it so far and trying to get my too large husband on board with it. P. S. Today’s pulled pork looks delicious! Thank you for posting the recipe!
I bought all the ingredients for the cherry-coconut bars this evening. I can’t wait to make them! A couple questions though – How do you store these? Fridge or no? Also, how long do they keep? Thank you!!
I store them in the fridge in an airtight container and although we go through them pretty fast I would bet that when kept in the fridge they would last a really long time since what they are made with is more or less non-parishable anyway!
Thanks so much!