Homemade Lara Bars with Almond, Dates & Dried Cherries

Quick and easy homemade lara bars with almonds, dates and dried cherries. Vegan, gluten free, dairy free. The perfect snack recipe!

I love a good road trip. No matter how long or short – it is always a great opportunity to grab a coffee to go, sing offensively loud, see some countryside and maybe take a little snooze (right, when I’m not behind the wheel). He does the driving, and me, well, I pack the snacks. What I lack in co-piloting and map reading skills I make up for in cookies and other bite sized treats.

Lately, we have been planning a pretty big road trip – a road adventure you might call it. It started out as a dream a few years ago – talking about all the ‘what ifs‘ and ‘wouldn’t that be amazings‘ of all the travels we wanted to do. But now, the dream is becoming more of a reality. We’ve slowly turned out ‘woulds‘ into ‘wills’ –  one small word, one serious difference.

I don’t want to say too much, not ready to give it all away just yet – not until that bank account starts increasing instead of decreasing. But I will tell you that there will be 2 people, 2 wheels and 1 tent crossing an entire continent. Ya, like a said – a road adventure! A trip like this requires a lot of planning and organization. Countless hours of research – which means that mass amounts of brain food is also required. Brain food like these little bars – raw, vegan, gluten free and full of energy for where ever you need to get to. He’ll plan the route, I’ll pack the snacks – solid teamwork i’d say.


HOMEMADE LARA BARS WITH ALMOND, DATES & DRIED CHERRIES

This is basically make-it-yourself version of Larabars, for those of you who know what those are. They really are the easisest things to make, and the different variations are endless. Have fun with it!

Ingredients

1 cup Almonds
1 cup Dates, pitted and roughly chopped*
3/4 cup Dried Cherries

Instructions

Add the almonds and dates to a food processor and blend until combined – it will look like a crumbly dough, but once you press it between your fingers it should stick together. Add a touch of water if it seems too dry.

Next, add in the dried cherries, and pulse until combined

Scoop out all the dough and press into a rectangular baking dish or tupperware lined with parchment paper (or use whatever shape you like!). Cover and place in the fridge for at least an hour or overnight. Then cut and slice them into bars. Alternatively you could roll the dough into bite size balls for a small snack on the go!

Store in an air tight container or wrap in plastic wrap in the fridge or freezer and they will keep for a few weeks.

*If your dates seem dry, you can soak them in water for 10 minutes before making the bars. Just drain out the water and pat them dry with a tea towel before adding to the food processor. When picking out dates and other dried fruits at the grocery store, I am a maniac at reading labels.  Try to buy dried fruit without any added sugar or oil, and dates especially can often have a coating on them, so do your best to buy the most natural products. Medjool dates are the best you can buy – but you don’t necessarily need to splurge here.


Let me in on your kitchen creations – tag your photos #happyheartedkitchen and share the love!

7 Comments

  • Reply
    Marina
    February 5, 2013 at 8:11 pm

    Healthy and simple…love it:-)

  • Reply
    MyHealthyCocina
    February 7, 2013 at 5:49 pm

    Nice recipe. Would love to feature it on MyHealthyCocina.com. Can I have your permission. I’d put a link to your site.

    Do you have a facebook page?

    • Reply
      Jodi Kay
      February 7, 2013 at 7:07 pm

      Hi! Yes, for sure you can feature it – that would great! But I don’t have a facebook page – yet ;). Thanks for asking!

  • Reply
    MyHealthyCocina
    February 8, 2013 at 2:13 am

    Awesome!! Thank you. It is going in both English & Spanish!

    Saludos,

    MyHealthyCocina.com

  • Reply
    PAJ
    April 28, 2013 at 5:51 pm

    How did you cut them so nicely?

    • Reply
      Jodi Kay
      May 1, 2013 at 8:13 am

      Hi there! I press the mixture into a square tupperware lined with parchment paper. After refrigerating them for at least an hour, I pulled on the parchment and voila! – the mixture had set into a nice square that I just cut into bars with a knife! Hope this helps :)

    Leave a Reply to Jodi Kay Cancel Reply