http://enlightenedcooking.blogspot.com/2008/02/home-made-lara-bars-energy-bars-part-3.html
Apologies for this post being a few days
late, but my love for LARA bars demanded several tries and multiple flavor
variations before posting—I really wanted to get this as close to the real thing
as possible.
Whether you’
ve heard of them or not, LARA BARS are one of the
very best energy bars on the market, largely because they are made from a short
list of real food ingredients: nuts, fruits and spices. In addition to their
inarguable yummy-
ness, they boast the following
assets:
Unprocessed - Raw - Non-
GMO - Gluten Free - Dairy Free - Soy Free - Vegan -
Kosher.
For comparison sake, take a look at the Lara bar ingredients and
the ingredients for another apple-
ish flavored bar on the market (made by
Powerbar):
LARABAR: Apple Pie Flavor
(from
http://www.larabar.com/)Dates,
Walnuts, Unsweetened Apples, Almonds, Raisins, Cinnamon
Powerbar: Apple Cinnamon
Flavor (from
http://www.powerbar.com/)High Fructose Corn
Syrup With Grape And Pear Juice Concentrate, Oat Bran,
Maltodextrin, Milk Protein
Isolate, Rice Crisps (Milled Rice, Rice Bran), Brown Rice Flour, Almond Butter,
Apple Powder, Natural Flavor, Glycerin, Soy Protein Isolate, Cinnamon and Peanut
Flour.CONTAINS ALMOND, MILK, PEANUT AND SOY INGREDIENTS.
Umm, glycerin.
The
only downside to LARA bars is that once you try them, you love them, and
you’
ve got to have
them. And at about $1.60 to $2.00 per bar, times three family members (yes, baby
likes small bites of them, too), it starts to get pricey. Hence my ersatz, but
equally enchanting, rendition.
Just me and my food processor…
A few raw ingredients, and no cooking required? Replication seemed
possible. I found a handful of blog posts with recipes for homemade LARA-type
bars, but they
didn’t sound like they could possibly be
correct.
The primary problem was
that quite a few recipes pushed for a one to three
ratio of fruit to nuts. I tried it, and my suspicions were correct: far too many
nuts, nowhere near enough fruit (an easy give-away: if there were so many nuts,
it would always be listed as the first ingredient on the
LARA BAR packaging; it is
not).
In addition, the specifications for each of the steps (how fine to
chop/process the nuts and fruits, how to blend, etc) were vague.
After a
few delicious rounds of testing, I think I’
ve got a good facsimile; Kevin agrees, and baby Nick
kept pleading, “More! More!”.
So here’s what to do for two bars (and this
can be doubled, tripled, quadrupled, etc; it only depends on the size of your
food processor). I’m using cherry as my main example, but I’
ve listed some variations
below. You can be as creative as you like with the combinations.
Raw
or Toasty—It’s Up to YouThe
Raw
Foods Movement is fascinating, but if the raw angle does not matter to you,
and you have a bit of extra time, consider lightly toasting the nuts; it boosts
the flavor significantly (but truth be told, I still like the raw flavor best).
Or, if you like salty-sweet, you can opt for roasted, lightly salted
nuts—yum!
.
Bars, Shmars...There is no rule saying you have to
shape these into bars; you can shape them into little truffle shapes or squares
(see photo 6). It's a great candy alternative (and this comes from someone with
a not-so-secret affection for sour fruit jelly bellies).
Very Cherry
Bars (use as a template for almost any combination)
LARA BARS use a multi-layer package that keeps out
UV light and oxygen, which, in turn, maintains freshness without the use of
preservatives. I use plain old plastic wrap and my refrigerator, then pop one in
my bag when I’m ready to go.
1/4 cup chopped dates
(roughly chopped whole fresh dates; see my note about
pre-chopped below)
1/4
cup dried cherries or dried cranberries
1/3 cup whole pecans, almonds or
walnuts
1/8 teaspoon cinnamon
Set out two pieces of plastic wrap for
shaping and wrapping the bars. Do this first; you’ll have sticky fingers when
you need it.
Place the dates and cherries in a food processor. Pulse
until processed to a paste (photo 1). Transfer paste to a medium bowl (don’t
clean processor).
Add the nuts to the processor and pulse until finely
chopped (photo 2). Add the nuts, along with the cinnamon, to the bowl with the
fruit paste (photo 3). Use your fingers to knead the nuts into the paste (just
keep squishing, it’s fun; brings back memories of play-dough; see photo
4).
.
Divide mixture in half. Place each half on each of one of the sheets
of plastic wrap. Wrap the plastic around each bar and start squishing into a bar
shape form, 3 and 1/2 inches long, 1 inch wide and 3/4-inch thick); press
against
countertop
to flatten bottom side, flattening top side and ends with flat of hand (photo 5)
Tightly wrap the plastic around each bar and store in the refrigerator. Makes 2
bars.
.
Nutrition per Serving (1 bar): Calories 207; Fat 9.4 g (sat
.8g, mono 5.2g, poly 3.1g); Protein 3.9g; Cholesterol 0mg; Carbohydrate 24.9g;
Sodium 0.4mg. (Note: I did the nutrition analysis using
Diet Analysis Plus
7.0.1)
Note about using pre-chopped dates: Pre-chopped
dried dates are much cheaper than whole dates, and sometimes are the only option
available at the supermarket, depending on where you live. However, they are
typically coated with oat flour (to prevent sticking), and sometimes a bit of
sugar, too. They are too dry and hard to work as is in this recipe, but with a
bit of tweaking, they will work just fine. To make them usable for larabar
purposes, place them in a small bowl and cover with warm water (not hot or
boiling water; this will make them turn to mush). Let stand 3 to 5 minutes until
softened; then drain and pat dry. Not only will this soften the dates, it will
remove any oat flour and/or sugar).
A Few Ideas for Variations:
Apricot-Almond: Use 6 tablespoons coarsely chopped
dried apricots and 2 tablespoons date (to measure 1/2 cup total); use almonds
for the nuts.
Tropical: Use tropical fruit bits (these come
pre-packaged at the
supermarket); use raw cashews for the nuts. Add 1/8 teaspoon ground ginger, 1/2
teaspoon finely grated lime zest, and 1 teaspoon fresh lime juice to the
mix.
PB & J (cheap and delicious!): Use 1/4 cup dried cherries
or cranberries and 1/4 cup raisins or dates; use raw or roasted peanuts (lightly
salted or unsalted) for the nuts.
Blueberry Bliss: Use 1/4 cup
dried blueberries and 1/4 cup dates; use almonds for the nuts. Add 1/2 teaspoon
finely grated lemon zest, and a drop of almond extract to the
mix.
Cashew Cookie Dough: Reverse the proportions of fruit to
nuts--Use 1/3 cup dates for the fruit and 1/2 cup raw cashews for the
nuts.
Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough: Same as cashew cookie dough,
but add 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract, pinch of cinnamon and 1/2 ounce very
finely chopped semisweet or bittersweet chocolate to the
mix.
Pistachio Heaven: Same as cashew cookie dough, but use raw
pistachios and add a tiny drop of almond extract.
Peanut Butter Cookie
Dough: Same as cashew cookie dough but use raw or roasted (lightly salted)
peanuts for the nuts.
Dates Nutrition Notes:Dates are
included in a majority of the LARA Bars, so I thought I’d mention a few facts
about these wonderful fruits.
I love dates because I love brown sugar,
and dates taste like brown sugar candy--hence they are a delicious and healthy
way to curb my sweet tooth. One date has a mere 23 calories and is loaded with
nutrition. Dates are an excellent source of carbohydrates (great for
pre- or post-workout),
contain no cholesterol, are high in fiber, and boast a wide range of nutrients,
including calcium (32 mg per serving), Magnesium, Phosphorous, Potassium, Iron,
Zinc, Copper, and Manganese.
Dates also contain vitamins A1, B1, B2, B3,
B5, C and more than 20 different amino acids; they help in the digestion and
assimilation of carbohydrates, and help to regulate blood sugar levels and fatty
acids content in our bodies.
PHOTO 1
PHOTO 2
