One thing that was a perk of social distancing was the amount of time we were almost forced to spend at home. I’m not complaining, and as a stay at home mom, it’s pretty normal anyway. But that gave me a little more time to play in the kitchen. We’re always looking for healthy alternatives to our favorite sweets because my sweet tooth in NEXT level. I recently tried some Lärabars at my sister’s house and was so impressed. The ingredient labels are clean, and they were really good! I decided to give a try at a copycat at home and was pleasantly surprised how they turned out. This recipe is for copycat chocolate coconut Lärabars that are vegan and gluten-free.
Gluten-free and vegan Lärabars are a great snack or even dessert that you can eat guilt free. These used nuts, dates, chocolate chips, and coconut making them only 5 ingredients, and they are no bake.
What you’ll love about these copycat chocolate coconut Lärabars?
- They are only 5 ingredients. If you like to bake, you likely have everything in your pantry you’ll need to make these.
- No bake! You can make these without even turning on the oven or stove.
- Super easy. All you need is a food processor and a pan or square/rectangle piece of food storage.
- Healthy! These have fiber, natural sugars, and protein. What’s not to love?
- They’re much cheaper than store bought Lärabars. You can make a batch of 6 (or double for 12), and it’ll be much less than $1-2 per bar depending on size of your ingredients. I always buy these ingredients at Costco so they come down in price significantly.
- Snacks or dessert. These can be used for a healthy dessert or a pick-me-up afternoon snack. Don’t feel any guilt eating these as they use healthy ingredients.
How to make these Lärabars?
- If you use dried dates, soak them for 15-20 minutes prior to when you want to process. If you use fresh dates or ones that are pretty soft, skip this step.
- Add dates to a food processor. Pulse until they are broken up and start to stick together.
- Dump in the nuts and coconut. Continue to pulse until the nuts break up and start to mix into the dates.
- Pour the chocolate chips over the top and continue to pulse to break up the chocolate chips some.
- Remove the lid, and in a small square or rectangle pan or small food storage container (I like to use this sized one for 6 bars, or a brownie size pan for 12) add the contents from the food processor.
- Flatten it to the sides well and try to make it even across.
- Place in the fridge for 30 minutes to allow the bars to harden.
- Remove from the fridge, cut into however many bars you want to make. To remove you’ll likely need to use a knife and wedge around the sides and peel it off the bottom of the pan.
- Store the remaining bars in the fridge for up to one week in an air tight container. They should also freeze fine up to 2 months in an air tight container.
Related posts
Sweet Potato Muffins
Chocolate Covered Peanut Butter Bombs
Copycat Samoa Cookies
Vegan Chocolate Coconut Copycat Lärabar
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pitted dates noor or medjool
- ¼ cup pecans
- ¼ cup cashews
- ⅛ cup chocolate chips
- ¼ cup coconut
Instructions
- Soak the dates (if using noor pitted dates) for at least 15 minutes prior to processing. They shouldn't feel hard.
- Add the dates to a food processor and pulse until they are in pieces and starts to stick together.
- Add the nuts and continue to pulse until they are broken up.
- Now dump in the chocolate chips and continue to process until the chocolate chips get slightly broken down.
- Remove from the processor and flatten into a square or rectangle pan.
- Place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes prior to cutting.
- Remove the bars from the pan and enjoy! Place the remaining bars in an air tight container and store for up to a week in the fridge.
Nutrition
Did you try these? Let me know what you thought in the comments below! Thanks for reading.
-Cassie
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