RAW Nut Bars

Raw Lärabars

This week I decided to recreate Lärabars!  A great source of fiber, healthy fats, and protein, these homemade Lärabars are the perfect food to fuel your workout, or a great snack when you're on the go.  They're raw, vegan, gluten free, preservative free, and kosher - making them suitable for pretty much any diet.

Lärabars, if you're wondering, are a type of energy bar that consist of unsweetened dried fruit, nuts, and spices.  They are, however, quite expensive - and with such a simple lists of ingredients, it's almost impossible not to try to recreate them! Everyone seems to have their own take on the date to nut ratio, so I thought I'd throw mine out there as well. 

Here I've included the basic formula I've come up with, which can be tweaked to your liking.  I've also included some ideas for flavors and  ingredients to get you started.  If your bars seem too dry, you can add up to 2 tbsp of warm water as needed.  Alternately, if your bars come out too wet, simply throw them in the dehydrator for a while until they firm up a bit.  My recipe makes about six 4 x 1.3 x 0.5  inch bars, depending on whether or not you use fillings.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup nuts
  
• Almonds, walnuts, pecans, cashews, pistachios, peanuts, hazelnuts, etc.
• 1 cup sweet dried fruit
• Dates, raisins, figs, prunes, etc. 
• 1 cup filling (optional)
  
• Dried cherries, dried blueberries, dried apricot, dried pineapple, cranberries, goji berries, more chopped nuts, dried coconut, chocolate chips, coffee beans, cacao nibs, shredded carrot, etc.  
• 2 - 4 tbsp flavoring (optional)
  
•  Cacao, vanilla, cinnamon, citrus zest and juice, ginger, mint, cloves, coconut oil.

Directions:
In your food processor, mix together fruit and nuts until a sticky, workable dough is formed.  Add flavoring, and process well.  Add fillings, and pulse until combined - being careful not to wreck the texture.  Shape into six equal sized bars, and wrap in parchment paper or plastic wrap.  If you're in a hurry, you can shape the dough into eight to twelve balls, instead.  Lärabars should keep in the refrigerator or freezer in an airtight container for up to a month. 

Below I've listed the Lärabar flavors, and my best guess at how to recreate them.  If you'd like to take a look at the ingredients yourself, you can check out their website.  The bars pictured in this post are modeled after the Lemon Bar Lärabar.

• Apple Pie
• 1 cup mixed almonds and walnuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup mixed raisins and dried apple
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• Banana Bread
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup dried banana
• Blueberry Muffin
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup dried blueberries
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• Cappuccino
• 1 cup mixed almonds and cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup coffee beans
• 1 vanilla bean, scraped
• Carrot Cake
• 1 cup mixed almonds and walnuts
• 1 cup mixed dates and raisins
• 1 cup mixed dried pineapple, shredded coconut, and carrot
• 1 tbsp coconut oil
• 2 tbsp cinnamon
• Cashew Cookie
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup dates
• Cherry Pie
• 1 cup almonds
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup dried cherries
• Chocolate Chip Brownie
• 1 cup mixed almonds and walnuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• 1/4 cup cacao powder
• Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte
• 1 cup mixed almonds and cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup mixed chocolate chips and dried cherries
  
• Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough
• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup chocolate chips
•  Chocolate Coconut Chew
• 1 cup mixed almonds and walnuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 4 tbsp cacao powder
•  Coconut Cream Pie
• 1 cup mixed almonds and cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup shredded coconut
• 2 tbsp coconut oil
• Ginger Snap
• 1 cup mixed almonds and pecans
• 1 cup dates
• 2 tbsp fresh ginger
  
• 1 tbsp mixed cinnamon and cloves
  
• Key Lime Pie
• 1 cup mixed cashews and almonds
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup shredded coconut 
• Zest and juice of 1 lime
• Lemon Bar
• 1 cup mixed cashews and almonds
• 1 cup dates
• Zest and juice of 1 lemon
• Peanut Butter & Jelly
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup dried cherries
• Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup chocolate chips
• Peanut Butter Cookie
• 1 cup peanuts
• 1 cup dates
• Pecan Pie
• 1 cup mixed pecans and almonds
• 1 cup dates
• Tropical Fruit Tart
• 1 cup mixed almonds and cashews
• 1 cup dates
• 1 cup mixed dried pineapple and shredded coconut
• Zest and juice of 1 orange
• 1 tbsp coconut oil

Calories and nutritional information will vary depending on what you include in your bar, but you can make a fair estimate that each bar has around 250 calories.