Clean Eating Cherry Pecan Lara Bars

I’d like to start this post with a small confession. I’ve never had a Lara Bar. In fact, I never heard of them until a reader emailed me with a recipe.

It peaked my interest, so I did a little more digging on the internet, and found that there are actually quite a few recipes for these bars.

As I understand it, the real Lara Bars are regular packaged bars you can buy at the store. But having just made these myself, I have to tell you two things:

1. They are probably the most fabulous, wonderful, yummy things I’ve had in a very long time.
2. I don’t see any reason for buying them when you can make something this good at home, and with such ease. These are seriously simple to make. Let me show you….

All you’ll need is a food processor and some plastic wrap. I should mention that while these are a clean food, they are definitely a once-in-a-while treat. You’ll see what I mean if you read the nutrition info below.

Clean Eating Cherry Pecan Lara Bars
(Makes 2 larger bars or 4 small ones)

Ingredients

1/2 cup date – pitted
1/2 cup dried cherries – no sugar added
1 cup pecans
1/2 tsp. cinnamon

Directions

Step 1 – Place all ingredients in the processor, and blend until it becomes a ball like the one above.

Step 2 – Place on plastic wrap on a flat work surface.

Step 3 – Wrap plastic around the “dough”.

Step 4 – Roll and shape.

Step 5 – At this point, you can place the whole thing in the fridge for 24 hours. But I recommend the freezer. The dough is very sticky and soft, so a few hours in the freezer would do it some good.

You could also put a few extra nuts in the processor and roll your bars in the nuts as a last step to avoid getting your fingers sticky when you pick it up.

But ultimately, that’s it! And man, are they G.O.O.D.!

Eat and Enjoy!

Munchkin Helpers:

If you have little ones, here’s how they can help (With close supervision, of course).

Let the little ones put the ingredients into the processor, and once the lid is secure, let them turn on the processor and watch it go! They can help roll the bars as well.

Nutritional Content
1 serving = 1 bar or 1/2 the recipe

Calories: 421
Total Fat: 20 gm
Saturated Fats: 2 gm
Trans Fats: 0 gm
Cholesterol: 0 gm
Sodium: 1 mg
Carbohydrates: 65 gm
Dietary fiber: 8 gm
Sugars: 51 gm
Protein: 4 gm
Estimated Glycemic Load: 33

Nutritional Information estimated at Nutritiondata.com. Data may not be accurate.

Caution: Any time a child is in the kitchen, they will require close supervision. Munchkin Helpers suggestions should be applied with common sense to your own child, taking their own capabilities into account. Do not assume that because it says here that your child can do something, that they can, in fact do it. Please use common sense when in the kitchen with your child(ren).

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