Cherry Nut Bars

May 8, 2012 / No Comments

My go-to snack on a busy day or after working out is a mini Lara bar. I love them since they are easy to transport and are made with simple and easy ingredients – simply fruits and nuts. If you go to the Lara Bar website they show each bar flavor and photos of the ingredients. This makes it nice when trying to replicate at home. Flavors combinations include Lemon Bar, Banana Bread, Cashew Cookie, Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip and many more. One of my favorites is the Cherry Pie bar. I have seen a handful of recipes lately to make Lara Bar type bars at home and decided to literally “give it a whirl.”

I like to stay true to the original and prefer them in little rectangle bar shapes (like the “mini” Lara bars). This gives me the great little energy boost needed without too many calories.

Most fruit & nut Lara Bar type recipes include dates as the “glue” to hold everything together. Nuts like almonds or walnuts or peanuts can be used and often another dried fruit like dried cherries is used for additional flavor. One could use an assortment of add-ins like coconut, chia seeds, flax seed, protein powder and more. I have found a ratio of 2:1 works well with 2 cups of fruit (1 cup dates plus 1 cup cherries or other fruit) and 1 cup of nuts.

Note: Some like to roll these into a ball shape for easy on the go “popping” into the mouth rather than cutting into bars or squares.Here is a sampling of combinations:

Apricot Bars: Apricots, Dates and Almonds
Tropical: Tropical Dried Fruit, Coconut, Cashews, Ground Ginger
Blueberry Muffin: Dried Blueberries, Lemon Zest, Almond Extract, Almonds

Why Healthy

Fruit and nut bars will provide you with a great source of fiber, healthy fats and some protein.
Dates contain an impressive list of essential nutrients, vitamins, and minerals. Dates are rich in fiber and antioxidant flavonoids. They are also excellent sources of iron and vitamin-A. They are also rich in minerals like calcium, manganese, copper, and magnesium.
Dried cherries contain iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium, folate, vitamin C and vitamin A (as beta-carotene). Cherries even have 19 times as much beta-carotene as blueberries and strawberries!
Nuts are rich source of protein, omega-3 fatty acids, and dietary fiber.

Cherry Nut Bars

A tasty homemade version of a popular snack bar.

Yield: Servers 10

Prep Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

1 Cup Pecans, Almonds or Peanuts (or a mixture)
1 Cup Chopped Dates
1 Cup Dried Cherries
Dash of Vanilla Extract

Directions:

Set aside two large pieces of parchment paper or wax paper. (This is for rolling out the fruit-nut paste. )
Fit a food processor with a metal blade, then add the nuts and fruits and pulse until mixture forms a ball that looks paste-like – about 2 minutes. (If you find your Fruit & Nut bars are a bit dry, simply add a couple tablespoons of warm water and process again.)
Spread the mixture out onto one piece of parchment or wax paper, then place second piece on top and roll out with a rolling pin until desired thickness.
Chill while still wrapped in parchment for an hour or even a few hours and then slice into rectangles.
The dough can be quite sticky at first so this step really helps the bars to become solid.
The bars can be kept in the refrigerator, covered, for about a week, or in the freezer for up to two months.
You can layer the bars with wax paper or parchment to store or individually package in parchment packages tied with ribbon or even in snack size Ziploc bags.