Homemade Lara Bars
In my constant quest for a recovery food after my morning Crossfit WOD, I discovered Lara bars. Made only of fruit and nuts, these bars are totally grain/gluten/dairy-free and offer a great source of good fats, protein, and carbohydrates in the form of fruit.
And as much as I love Lara bars and all their amazing flavors, they can get kind of pricey, depending on where you buy them. This recipe makes ten bars (or 8 if you eat two before you cut them up) and I estimated it cost me a little less than $0.35 per bar to make this recipe.
These bars are super easy and great to wrap up and take with you for an afternoon snack-on-the-go or a meal replacement. This past weekend when I was traveling, these babies would have come in handy. I basically starved rather than eat airport food, although I have to say some airports are way better with health-conscious foods than other. Detroit, I’m looking at you.
I used the “antioxidant power medley” of dried fruit (pomegranates and blueberries) I found at Target but you can use any dried fruit you want – cranberries, blueberries, strawberries, apricots. I also use 70% cacao Ghirardelli chocolate chips which added a great flavor but you can feel free to eliminate. I also used Sunbutter with flax seeds which my local Target also sells. You can sub any “nut” butter.
Homemade Lara Bars
What You Need:
- 1/2 c. pecans
- 1/2 c. walnuts
- 1/2 c. almonds
- 1/2 c. dried fruit
- 1 tbsp sunflower seeds
- 1/2 c. pitted dates
- 2 tbsp honey (or agave)
- 1 egg, beaten
- 3 tbsp Sunbutter w/flax seeds
What you do:
1) If your nuts aren’t already the “chopped” variety, give them a coarse chop with a knife.
2) In a food processor or blender, add the nuts and pulse until small chunks. Put in bowl.
3) Chop or put the dates in a food processor and pulse until “gooey” for lack of a better word. Add to bowl.
4) Repeat above step with the chocolate chips if you’re using them.
5) When all nuts, fruit, and chocolate are in the bowl, add in the egg, honey, and Sunbutter and mix thoroughly.
6) Line a 9X9 baking dish with parchment. Yes, you MUST use parchment. Otherwise, it will stick and be a mess and you will hate me and it will NOT be my fault.
7) Press down mixture thoroughly and evenly.
8) Bake at 250 for 45 minutes, until middle is firm.
9) Let cool completely and cut into bars.
10) Wrap each bar individually in plastic wrap for a quick grab.
Pressed firmly in a baking dish with parchment paper
Related Posts
Tags
Share This
I’ve been following your blog for a few weeks now. These look yummy!
Mark Sisson has a raw and egg free version on his website which I made a few weeks ago that were pretty good.
While I like making food myself, especially since we’ve been on the Primal diet for 3 1/2 months, I really prefer Lara bars as they have a longer shelf life and are my go-to food for traveling, emergency snacks for my 4yo in my purse, and a few in the trunk in our emergency bag. Most stores carry them for $1.25 – 1.50 a bar, though you can get them cheaper at Costco, closer to $1.00 a bar, though you are stuck with their selection of flavors (a mix).
Oh I agree 100% – if I find a box of Lara bars on sale, I stock up. They are great to have around for the reasons you stated – shelf life, accessibility, etc. But it’s nice to make things cheaper at home too!
I subbed flax gel for the egg and they still worked out perfectly. Thanks for this recipe!
I keep hearing how great Lara Bars are, though I’ve never tried them. If you’re looking for more recipes to make them at home, check this out: http://blog.ianandjulia.com/?p=627
Liking the new blog, even though I’ve never commented!
Yum! I was just telling my hubby yesterday that I was going to attempt to make my own as well… and here’s your post! Thanks for sharing:)
What size baking pan did you use? Wondering how big the bars are if it only makes 10. I’m trying to find snacks in the 100 calorie range – these come out to about 190 calories each if the recipe yields only 10 bars. They look so yummy…I really want to try them!
It’s a 9X9 – sorry! Should have mentioned that! They really are an incredibly easy tasty nutrient-packed snack!
Thanks for the recipe – I’ll have to try these. I recently tried a version from Mama Pea (Peas and Thank You) – she has a vegan version of the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Lara Bar that is no-bake and it really does taste like cookie dough. Bonus is that it is very few ingredients and pretty quick to make. Yum!
These look fantastic, and love how inexpensive it was to make them. The recipe looks really versatile, so I’d probably add some apricot or dried pineapple to mine!
Ok, this looks pretty awesome. I’ve always enjoyed fruit & nut bars (used to eat granola versions before I went primal) and I’ve been looking for a good version like this for a while. Looks SO tasty … Thanks!
Hi there,
Now THIS is a recipe even I haven’t seen (and I’m always on the prowl for new SunButter creations). Love that you used the version with flax seeds for that added benefit. Thanks for a great post. Looking forward to following your blog.
Hi again,
Say, I’ve just finished a draft blog post for the SunButter blog (actually it’s a guest post from Katy at thesingingrunner.wordpress.com), and I’d love to include a link to your blog as one that nicely balances fitness and eating and, well, life. Do you mind if I link to it? Full credit to you, of course. Thanks for considering it.
Lovely! These look like they would be great to hike with. I make something similar called the “Primal nut bar.” that you might like to check out. http://cavewomancafe.wordpress.com/2010/08/10/new-beginnings/
Thanks for the post! I will be making these!