Forget cats and dogs, it has been raining pigs and chickens in the Northwest lately. This increase in waterworks gave me some time over the weekend to experiment in the kitchen, and I have wanted to try to make some energy bars for a while now. While rainy days make for good experiment days, they don’t necessarily make for good picture days, though. Taking nice food photos is a challenge when it is perpetually grey outside!
Of all the protein/energy bars out there, Lara Bars are by far my favorite. They have simple ingredients and minimal processing. But, Lara Bars, like all pre-packaged energy bars, can really add up. The cheapest I’ve found them is $1.29 each at Trader Joe’s. If you eat one a day (which I could easily do), that’s about $475 a year in bars, if you’re buying them “cheaply.” They can go for as much as $1.69 each. Ay Dios Mio.
I don’t see myself coming up with any of the ingredients in a PowerBar; I don’t know about you, but I don’t have soy protein isolate or fractioned palm kernel oil in the pantry. So, Lara Bars, with their simple ingredients listed on the package, seemed feasible to replicate.
My three favorite flavors are Cherry Pie, Peanut Butter Cookie, and Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip, so I set out to make those three.
UPDATE: If you maybe prefer blueberry pie flavor, check out my Larabar Part 2 post over here.
I’ll let you try these out and see if you think I figured it out, but my taste tests say “yes.”
How did I figure this out, anyway? Well, it was a bit of an educated guess. Product packaging rules require manufacturers to list ingredients in order based on their percentage in the product. In studying the labels, it was clear that dates are the binder and main ingredient in most of the bars. That also means that there is a higher percentage of dates in the bars than any other ingredient. So, I knew that was my starting point.
Once I made my first batch and figured out how many servings it would make, I input the ingredients into a recipe calculator to see where the calories netted out – in theory, they should be close to the calories on the Lara Bar package. And, amazingly, they were. After my first batch, I just needed to add one date to my ratio, and I was pretty close to the same calories.
Peanut Butter Cookie
Makes 3 bars
Ingredients:
- 6 Medjool dates
- 1/4 cup dry roasted and unsalted peanuts
- Pit and chop the dates into small chunks
- Use a food processor or high speed blender to grind the peanuts into a very small texture. I ended up using my Ninja blender for this
- Add the dates in with the peanuts and blend for another 30 seconds to one minute until the mixture comes together
- Put the mixture onto half of a piece of wax paper, fold the other half of the wax paper over the blob of mixture, and use your hands to flatten into a rectangle roughly 3/4” thick
- Cut into 3 equal pieces
- You can click the image to the right to enlarge the nutrition information.
For a peanut butter chocolate chip cookie dough flavor, add 1-2 tablespoons of mini chocolate chips before you fold out onto the wax paper. I didn’t do the nutrition facts on this option because I couldn’t find the chocolate chips in the SparkPeople database, sorry!
Cherry Pie
Makes 3 bars
Ingredients:
- 6 Medjool dates
- 1/4 cup dried Bing cherries
- 1/4 cup dry roasted and unsalted almonds
- UPDATE: Optional: 1 scoop of your favorite plain or strawberry protein powder. I have been adding a scoop of Designer Whey strawberry protein powder before the dates lately, and it works great, and adds a good amount of protein to each bar.
- Pit and chop the dates into small chunks
- Use a food processor or high speed blender to grind the almonds and cherries into a very small texture. I ended up using my Ninja blender for this.
- Add the dates in with the peanuts and blend for another 30 seconds to one minute until the mixture comes together
- Put the mixture onto half of a piece of wax paper, fold the other half of the wax paper over the blob of mixture, and use your hands to flatten into a rectangle roughly 3/4” thick
- Cut into 3 equal pieces
- You can click on the image to the right to enlarge the nutrition facts info
Storage:
I wrapped them individually in wax paper and put them in an airtight container in the fridge.
Cost:
I usually don’t figure out the cost of recipes, but this one was intriguing, so I calculated it out for the peanut butter and cherry flavors.
Peanut Butter Flavor:
- 6 dates, from a package of 30 dates that cost $3.69= $.74
- 1/4 cup peanuts, from a package with (16) 1/4 cup servings that cost $2.29 = $.14
- Total ingredients cost: $.88
- Total per bar cost: $0.29
Twenty-nine cents per bar?!! That almost seems impossible. That is potentially $365 back in my pocket every year, considering my one-a-day scenario above.
Cherry Pie Flavor:
- 6 dates, from a package of 30 dates that cost $3.69= $.74
- 1/4 cup dried cherries, from a package with (6) 1/4 cup servings that cost $3.49 = $.58
- 1/4 cup almonds from a package with (16) 1/4 cup servings that cost $4.99 = $.31
- Total ingredients cost: $1.63
- Total per bar cost: $.54
Even at $0.54 per bar, you can make three bars for less than the total cost of one pre-made bar. In my opinion, that’s more than worth the effort!
What’s your favorite Lara Bar? Will you try to replicate it now?
View Comments (29)
Thanks for doing the research! I can’t wait to make these. It is wonderful that you posted all your hard work & saved everyone else the labor.
Good luck with them, Hannah! I have been making these for months now and I really have grown to prefer them homemade instead of store bought – they seem moister when you make them from scratch!
Do you have any tips for helping them stay together?
Hi Jerry,
You really want to blend it all together in the Ninja until it forms a big “blob” that all moves together. By doing that, they’ll bind together and you can flatten them out on the wax paper. If you are doing that and they aren’t holding together, you may need a couple more dates – those are what binds them. Also, store them in the fridge – for some reason, keeping them cold helps them stay together for me.
Let me know if you are still having issues!
Angela
Wow – what a gem of a recipe!! I absolutely LOVE lara bars! However, I bought a pack of the “minis” last week and I opened up a moldy one – ewww! I know, it was probably a fluke. However I have ALWAYS wanted a recipe to make these on my own. What a cost savings. Cashew cookie is my favorite flavor. I wonder if substituting cashews for peanuts would create the same result as the peanut butter cookie recipe? I’ll have to try it out! I was on the search for Ninja recipe’s when I came across your site. I am receiving mine today (ordered the 1100 system from QVC). I really really wanted a vita-mix but with 4 kiddos just can’t justify the cost. Thank you for your research and your sharing. Can’t wait to try these out!!
Hi Tracy!
Yes, I love Lara Bars, but homemade are WAY better, if you can believe it! I have successfully subbed in cashews, no problems. You can also change the ratios of ingredients to meet your needs, but keep in mind the dates are the binder. The main deal is to make sure to blend it all up into a cohesive blob before you pour it out and press it into a bar shape. I am with you – I wanted a Vitamix but couldn’t justify it. I love my Ninja, and it’s like 1/5 of the price!
Thank you so much for putting this recipe on the web! I tried these tonight (subbing in walnuts for almonds since that’s what I had on hand) and they came out unbelievably good. Great website!
Hi Kelly,
Thanks for letting me know how they came out for you — subbing walnuts for almonds sounds like a tasty substitution!
Angela
Excellent Recipe! I love my new Ninja, and appreciate all of the great recipes posted here. I made the lara bars tonight and it worked perfectly I then doubled the recipe and substituted 1/2 of the peanuts with bulk granola and craisins. These also turned out awesome! The longer I blend them, the better they stick together.
Hi Jim,
Great! I am glad they worked out for you. And you’re right, the longer you blend, the better they will hold together.
Thanks for the note!
Thanks so much for this! Anyone know how good these would last outside the fridge? I was thinking of mailing some creative ones to friends
Hi Patty,
Since they are made of simple ingredients that don’t need to be refrigerated on their own, you should be just fine to mail them to your friends. I just happen to like to have them chilled. You should be good for a couple weeks as long as they are in an airtight container.
Angela
Hi,
I think I’m the only one having problems with this! My mixture won’t stay together very well, but I blend for a very long time. I am using my ninja blender, which I love, but I haven’t had much success with this recipe. I will say that everything tastes great, but rather crumbly….suggestions?
Thanks for this awesome website too, wonderful suggestions and tasty too!
Hi Kari,
Are you using Medjool dates? The large, sticky ones? I have never had an issue with it sticking together. My initial thought is you may be blending it too long. You just want the mixture to come together, not become really, really blended. I would add a couple more dates to your mixture and see how you net out – they are the binder, and if you’re seeing a crumbly bar, you may need more binder! If none of that works, try adding some honey to hold it together…
Good luck!
Angela
Hi Kari,
Thanks for the recipe, I knew these would be easy to make!
I can agree with Angela about having trouble using Medjool dates and the mixture not binding well. When i pressed the mixture in some parchment paper it came together but next time I will try using some honey.
After I tried the cashew cookie recipe, I realized I had some prunes that had a higher moisture content. I did 1/4 cup raw almonds and 7 prunes, the mixture binded together much better and faster. Although, so far the cashew cookie wins the taste test!
Do you think adding a little applesauce might help bind the mixture together instead of honey?
Thanks!
John
Hi John,
You could definitely try a little applesauce, though I would start small – a little will go a long way and you don’t want to end up with overly mushy bars that won’t hold together. (Start with a tablespoon and see where that gets you).
Good luck!
Angela
I have found if you will soak the dates for about 10 minutes in water before using they will stick much better! Add water and you won’t add calories!
I have a container of all natural peanut butter, and the ingredients are nothing but ground peanuts. Could I use this along with the dates instead of grinding my own peanuts? It seems like using this would just skip the first step of processing the peanuts in the Ninja, but how much of the already ground peanut mixture should I use in place of the 1/4 cup of whole peanuts? Thanks for your help.
Hi Shannon,
You absolutely can do this! You will get a very creamy energy bar, probably more like the consistency of a PowerBar instead of a Lara Bar. You are going to have to play around with the ratios a little bit, though, because you won’t have the chunks from the peanuts so your bars could come out fairly compact. Technically speaking, you would only need 2 tablespoons of peanut butter to replicate 1/4 cup of peanuts, but I feel like this may make really small bars. I think you could start with 2 tablespoons and adjust accordingly if the bars are too small… Let me know how it works out for you!
Thanks for the response, Angela! I went ahead and got some peanuts to try before I got your answer because I didn’t want to waste the dates. I got 9 bars out of one small bag of dates and one-fourth pound of peanuts! They were delicious. My daughter with food allergies is thrilled with these! I will try another batch with the peanut butter and see how it works and let you know. A creamier texture might be better since she is only two. Looking forward to trying this! Your recipe is spot on, by the way! What a savings! Thanks so much for sharing your fantastic discovery!
Shannon, that is awesome to hear! I love it when it works out AND saves money
I soooo want to make these! Can you tell me how much 6 chopped dates yields? I can’t find whole dates, but I have chopped dates. Just unsure of how much to use for the right consistency. Thanks!
Hi Kate,
You could definitely use chopped dates. 6 dates comes out to about a shy 3/4 cup.loosely packed (not pressed together) once they are pitted. Hope that helps!
Angela
Sorry, meant to reply sooner! My first attempt tasted great, but way too crumbly, so I added some honey. My mistake though, because the chopped dates I bought were just too dry for this purpose. I bought a pound of fresh Medjool dates….and…perfect! I love these! Thanks so much!
That is great to hear, Kate! I definitely agree that fresh dates are important – they are much moister than packaged. So glad it worked out for you!