Homemade Larabars

So I love having good health filled portable snacks for hiking and trips.  Hence my love of larabars.  However they are cost prohibitive, so I was thrilled to find out that I can make them at home and make any flavor we like or invent.  They are crazy easy, and can be adapted however you need.

Basic recipe is 1 cup pitted dates, 1 cup dried fruit, 1-2 cups seeds nuts or other add ins.

Chop the fruit in a food processor till sticky and paste like.  Put in a bowl.  Chop nuts seeds or other stuff and mix into sticky date paste.  Form into balls, circles, bars, or other shape, and chill till solid.  Store cool and dry, does not need refrigeration.

You may need to knead the ingredients together to get it all to stick and  hold, but the work is pretty minimal.  I will say, this is not a job for the vitamix.  A food processor works much better.  I love that this is just as good nut free as with nuts too.

We make it with dried blueberries and either cashews or pumpkin seeds and a bit of lemon extract, tastes like a blueberry muffin.  Using almonds dried cherries and almond extract you get cherry pie.  I looked at the list of flavors on the larabar website and the ingredients tell you how to make each flavor!  The kids invented a good one too, pineapple and strawberry.

The add ins they picked were coconut, chia seeds, and cashews and walnuts.  I want to make carrot cake:  dates, dried carrots, dried pineapple, raisins, coconut, cinnamon, walnuts, sunflower seeds.  The kids want banana bread: dried bananas, dates, sunflower seeds or almonds.  Even Rich LOVES these.  It is great to finally find a healthy snack he likes.  We pack them in some plastic wrap or a baggie and take them hiking or on field trips.  Filling, tasty, and full of nutrition, what could be better?