CCC Takes on Larabars

Homemade energy bars have been all the rage in healthy living blogs and why not? With simple ingredients and a food processor making them at home was no trouble at all, I probably shouldn't have waited so long. 

While drooling over everything at the new Whole Foods I saw that organic Medjool dates were on sale and instantly decided that it was time to make my own.  I perused all my favorite blogs and even googled "date based energy bars" for ideas. I mostly just wanted to get a ratio of ingredients as I already knew what I was going to put into my first batch. 

Here's what I settled on:

3 T chia seeds
1/2 c. raw sliced almonds
1/4 c. sweetened coconut flakes (I would normally use unsweetened, but I had this leftover from a recipe and wanted to use it up.
slightly less than 1/2c. raw cashews
~3/4 cup chopped Medjool dates
1 T agave nectar 

I spread the almonds + coconut flakes on a small tray and put them in the toaster over for a few minutes. I wanted them just shy of browned and could tell when they were done by smell. While those were toasting I ground the chia seeds into a fine powder in my coffee grinder. I added the chia powder, toasted almonds + coconuts, cashews and dates into my food processor and let it run. Once everything was pretty ground up I added the agave nectar and pulsed for a few moments. I dumped the mixture onto a sheet of saran wrap and formed a big rectangle, about ~1/2 an inch thick. I placed the rectangle on a plate to chill overnight. The next morning I cut it into 8 smaller pieces and wrapped each individually. I am going to freeze a few for a long lifespan.

The results were fantastic. 

Super nutty, just chewy enough, great flavor. I can't wait to experiment with different nuts and fruits and flavorings!

Each small rectangle is only ~130 calories so I may cut the next variety into bigger pieces (and consider 2 a solid snack for now).