Homemade Larabar Recipe

I am venturing out to try something new for my blog. Today I am sharing... a recipe!! I am sharing this recipe because it is delicious, high fat, high calorie, delicious, easy to throw in your bag or purse, my entire family loves them, oh and did I mention delicious? Now if you Google Larabars you will find tons and tons of recipes, BUT there is actually a technique to them and it took me a while to perfect the Larabar so I decided to share my recipe that has been tweeked many times in order to make the perfect Larabar!

Homemade Cherry Pie Larabar
1c raw unsalted almonds
1 c dried unsweetened cherries
1/2 c pitted Majool dates
1T water

You will also need the "s" blade on your food processor.
I always double the recipe because they disappear so quickly in my house AND they freeze really well. In fact, I freeze them immediately after making them and take them out as I want them. They don't freeze solid so you can munch on them straight from the freezer if you choose. 

Put 1T water in your food processor (don't soak fruit like some recipes recommend because the texture will be super icky!) and slowly add cherries and dates. Keep pulsing until the cherry/date mixture sticks together and forms a sticky ball.

See how the cherry/date mixture is clumped together? This lets you know it is time to take the sticky mixture out.

Remove cherry/date mixture and set aside.

Cherry/date mixture waiting to be used.

 Place almonds in the empty food processor and pulse till nuts are at a rough chop (processing the nuts too much will release their oils and give you oily bars). 

Rough chop of the almonds

Slowly add the cherry/date mixture to the nut mixture. (This step is crucial because if you try to dump all the cherries at once it will burn out the motor on your food processor. Happened to me more than once, yikes!)

Almost done!

Remove nut and fruit mixture and place on wax paper.

It will seem crumbly at first, but as you work it the mixture will become stickier and hold its form

Use the wax paper to form it into a ball (it will be sticky so the wax paper keeps your hands cleaner!)

Flatten ball with your hands. Cover flattened ball of fruit/nut mixture with wax paper and use rolling pin to get desired shape and thickness.

Use a sharp knife to cut into squares or rectangles. My double batch makes 12, but I like to cut them big.

K and I always share the scraps from making the edges straight. It is our reward for all our hard work.

Wrap in wax paper, stick in ziplock bag and freeze (or refrigerate) and you are done! Make sure you enjoy one (or two or three) before you freeze them though!

All ready for the freezer!

This snack is healthy enough for anyone in the family to eat, but full of good fats which is great for us CFers. It is easy to bring along as a quick snack on the go and they freeze really well so you don't have to worry about them spoiling (not that they will last long anyway). Even my hubby who is not a snacker can't refuse a homemade cherry larabar and don't even mention them around me toddler, she is obsessed!

Enjoy!