Homemade LARABARS

I have an obsession with Peanut Butter Cookie LARABARS. They are the perfect mid-morning snack during my planning period and help fill the void until lunch time. But at about $5.99 a box they are a little steep for my budget. I saw this awesome blog post with several varieties of LARABAR combinations and decided to try out the recipe for my favorite flavor.

And - they are delicious. Like I immediately packed them into individual baggies so that I would not consume them all at once.

I had to modify the recipe a bit based on the amount of dates that I purchased in bulk from Whole Foods.

Peanut Butter Cookie LARABARS
1lb (or 2 1/4 cups dried dates) - pitted
2 c warm water
1 3/4 c unsalted peanuts
5 tbsp dark chocolate chips
1/8 tsp sea salt
yields 12 bars

Gather your ingredients around. I managed not to scarf a single peanut down while prepping this recipe! Self control - nailed it.

Then soak the dates in the warm water. I soaked mine for about 5 minutes, but time will vary based on how dry the dates are. 

Time to put the ole food processor to work chopping the peanuts....

Until they look like this.

Once you have drained and patted the dates dry with a paper towel throw them into the food processor with the chocolate chips and salt.

And pulse the ingredients until they look about like this.

I used two 9 x 5 loaf pans lined with plastic wrap and sprayed them with coconut oil, but you can use whatever shape pan you like. Another option I saw online was to spray your hands with oil and form them into cookies. 

If you use the loaf pan method like me, fold the plastic wrap down over the mixture and pat them out until they are flat. Then chill them in the fridge for 30 minutes.

After 30 minutes, take them out of the fridge and slice them. I then stored them in individual plastic bags so I can throw one into my lunch bag each morning.  (Note - mine were falling apart just a little - not crumbling. But the LARABARS normally fall apart pretty easily when I get to eating them too.)

What variation are you going to try? Comment back and let me know how you like them.