Let's face it. Dates are a superfood. They are full of fiber, iron, potassium, and the list goes on. Add some cashews with their good fats and protein and you have a superfood that kicks other superfood butts!
That's why Larabars rock! The sweet flavor brings my kids running for them, but there aren't any sweeteners, just yummy sweet dates. So when I ran across a recipe for homemade Larabars on Pinterest I had to try them. So now I find myself making a batch at least once a week and sometimes twice if the kids have friends over.
The original recipe is for cookie dough bars on Oh She Glows blog. This has been a great base to play with flavors, but I can't use the chocolate chips for my middle child so I had to change that part. So I want to share my most recent flavor I like to call Cocoanutty.
11/2 cups raw cashews
1 cup dates
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 teaspoon cocoa powder
1/4 cup unsweetened coconut flakes
Pulse the cashews in a food processor a few times to get them started, add dates then pulse until they are mixed well and a sticky ball. Add the vanilla, cocoa powder, and coconut in and pulse a little more to blend it all together.
Put parchment paper on the bottom of a bread pan and push the ball of yummy goodness out in a thin layer, then place pan in freezer. The original blog says to leave in the freezer 15 minutes, but I never remember and end up leaving it for 2 hours without a problem. I just wrap in wax paper for the kids' lunch boxes.
So there is my current favorite flavor. I may post more, especially since I'm thinking I need to bring some favorite fall flavors into the mix.
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