Love larabars? Make your own version at home using your food processor. I added pecans, coconut, and German chocolate to mine.
Over the weekend I had a strange encounter with my bullet blender. Saturday morning after preparing my typical green smoothie, I was hastily cleaning up and gathering my belongings before rushing out the door in time for pilates. Rinse out cup and blender blades – check. Grab water bottle, shoes, and blender base – che… wait what?! It wasn’t until I unloaded my things into the car that I realized I had grabbed the bullet blender base which resulted in a lot of confused laughter. Of course I didn’t have time to go back inside so it took a trip in the car. The only explanation I can come up with is that I must have intended to put it away but skipped that step and just walked out the door with it instead. Either way I proceeded to post about it on Facebook to give others a good laugh at my expense.
Speaking of other appliances that grind things up, how about the food processor? No I did not walk out of the house with it (yet) but it is evidently useful when it comes to making snack bars for when you are in a rush out the door. I’ve had homemade larabars on my list of things to make ever since I grabbed a giant container of dates from Costco and finally was inspired when I learned that today is National Pecan Day! How about we turn German chocolate cake into a healthy snack bar? While they don’t exactly taste like dessert, with toasted pecans, shredded coconut, and German chocolate mixed in them they certainly taste good. Just don’t make the mistake I did and use unpitted dates. I just hope I didn’t dull the blades of my food processor in the process because those pits are no joke – they didn’t grind up at all! Thankfully this did made them easy to extract, but I may need to look in to how to go about sharpening my food processor blades. If I’m not running around outside with kitchen appliances it’s something else right?
One year ago: Peepsters Stuffed Chocolate Chip Cookies
Four years ago: Double Cake Batter Truffle Ice Cream
GERMAN CHOCOLATE LARABARS
Makes 18 bars
Ingredients:
1 cup pitted dates
1 cup toasted pecans
1/2 cup shredded coconut
1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats (optional)
2 oz. German chocolate
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
Directions:
- Line a jelly roll pan with wax paper and set aside.
- Add all ingredients to food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps together. Add 1 teaspoon of water if it’s a little on the dry side.
- Evenly press mixture into the prepared pan to smooth out the batter. Freeze for 10 minutes and then slice into 18 bars. Wrap in wax paper and store in the fridge.
Source: Adapted from Rustic Brooklyn.
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10 comments
My husband was just asking me to make homemade larabars! Definitely trying these!
Awesome! I just polished all mine off (yes I made these awhile ago) and am going to try mixing up the flavor.
Wait, how did you know I’m a larabar addict?! Because I am. Love this homemade super chocolatey version!
They unfortunately weren’t super chocolately and I probably should have used more German chocolate… I’ll change my recipe to 2 oz.
Oooh those look amazing! Definitely my kind of energy bar :)
These sound great, but I’m surprised to see only 1 ounce of chocolate in it (am I a chocoholic? You betcha!!) I would probably play with these a little – and use dark chocolate, since that’s what we like.
Yea, to be honest they needed more chocolate because I couldn’t taste it very much. But I was trying to keep them healthy! I’ll change my recipe to 2 oz.
Point taken. But if you use dark chocolate, which is healthier (I know, you were going for German chocolate), you could use more… :-D
You are correct on both accounts.
I am obsessed with larabars and German chocolate so I know I would love these bars!