Fruit and Nut Bars

I fell for Larabars a few years ago when they were handing out samples at the Cherry Creek Arts Festival. That's actually saying something because I am not a fan of the nutrition bar aisle at the market.

That being said, loving Larabars was a surprise to me. Granted they are not really touted as meal replacement or nutrition bars, they are more of a snack item. I keep a stash in my desk at work to avoid those vending machine cravings. My only wish has been that they would reduce the size. These are filling little suckers and half a bar does the trick. And each time I evaluate the the ingredient list, I often wonder if I couldn't make my own version of these at home.

One of my fav flavors, banana cookie (or banana bread as they now appear to be called) had exactly three ingredients: almonds, dates and unsweetened bananas. Even the schmancier chocolate line adds only a bit of flavor and cocoa powder. Surely this wasn't rocket science.

I require a bit of green to my bananas in order to eat them straight and giving the banana cookie version a try would be the perfect way to use those ripened bananas I always seem to have. I sliced the bananas fairly thin and put them in a 175 degree oven for three hours. Three bananas yielded almost a cup of dehydrated bananas. Warning: dried bananas without preservatives are not pretty. Then it was food processor time for all three ingredients.

Fruit and Nut Bars

1 c. dates

1 c. dried bananas

2/3 c. almonds

1. Process dates and bananas together to create a small chunk crumb. Remove from food processor and place in bowl

2. Process almonds for 20-30 seconds. Add to bowl with date mixture.

3. Knead with hands until fully combined.

4. Shape or roll out mixture to about 1/2 inch thick. Refrigerate.

5. Cut into desired bars (or smaller snack servings...yay!)

I can't believe I waited so long to give this a try. They tasted just like banana cookie bar even though I chose a smaller almond to fruit ratio. I'm guessing that the bananas could be replaced with dried cherries for the cherry bar version and cashews or pecans would make a fabulous substitute for the almonds. Truly a bar that meets the food experience requirements.