Homemade Copycat Cookie Dough Lara Bars

If there was one thing that truly got me through long days in college or long days my first year after college while I was still adjusting, it was snacks. Moreso, granola bars. And one of my go-to’s? Lara Bars! They were on the more inexpensive side of snack bars but still had amazingly simple ingredients that kept me full. You know some of those bars where you eat them and then feel hungry 30 minutes later? Yeah, Lara bars weren’t that. And that’s why I loved them so much!

Honestly, I do still love Lara bars, but you all know just how obsessed I am with making granola bars at home. So, I had to recreate one of my original favorites, Lara Bars!

One of the best things about these homemade lara bars is the simple ingredients which makes them SO easy to recreate in your own kitchen. The base of these bars is only six basic ingredients, which you likely already own. They are naturally sweetened with dates, with a mix of carbs and fats from oats & nut butter to keep you full. You’ll satisfy both the snack craving and a little bit of that sweet tooth!

These homemade bars are perfect for an on the go snack, or for weekend meal prep snacks for the week! Enjoy. 🙂

So let’s do it! Homemade Lara Bars here we come.

Recipe Notes

1. You do need a food processor for this recipe. It’s essential in really breaking down the dates and oats and getting them well incorporated.
2. You will need to start and stop your food processor a few times in order to scrape down the sides and bottom of the food processor. Be patient and stick with it. The dough will come together! It takes a bit of extra time processing to really break down the dates, but it does come together. 🙂

Homemade Copycat Cookie Dough Lara Bars

5 from 1 vote

Recipe by Lindsey Goldschmidt

Servings

6

Bars

Calories

210

kcal

Ingredients

• 1/2 Cup Cashew Butter

• 3 Medjool Dates, pitted

• 1/3 Cup & 1 Tbsp Rolled Oats

• 2 tsp Vanilla Extract

• 1/4 Cup Chocolate Chips

Directions

• Begin by adding cashew butter, pitted dates, oats and vanilla extract to a food processor.
• Start by processing everything on low for the first 30ish seconds to begin breaking everything down, and then turn the speed up to high. After about a minute or so, turn off the food processor and scrap down the sides and bottom of the food processor bowl.
• Repeat the process in step 2 of processing your ingredients on high and then scraping down the sides until everything has broken down and becomes a well combined dough. (see recipe note 2)
• Once the dough comes together, add in your chocolate chips and pulse a few times or process on low for 20 seconds until the chocolate chips are incorporated.
• Line a 9×11 pan with parchment paper paper and press the dough into an even layer spanning across about 3/4 the length of the pan. Doing this will just give us bars that are thicker in size and closer to the real deal Lara Bars.
• Refrigerate your dough for 45 – 60 minutes, then cut into bars and enjoy!

Notes

• Store bars in refrigerator. Calories will vary depending on brand / type of chocolate chips used.