Finding a healthy, gluten-free, and dairy-free snack can be tricky. Or expensive. These chocolate peanut butter lara bars are neither of those things. They’re so easy to make, use minimal ingredients, and only cost about 25 cents per bar.

Chocolate Peanut Butter Homemade Lara Bar

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I’m completely addicted to these homemade Lara Bars. I’ve got a thing for them (remember these Mocha Lara Bars?)

The base of Lara Bars is made of dates and various nuts, depending on the flavor. This homemade version’s base contains dates and peanuts, along with a good dose of cocoa powder.

Homemade Lara Bars are my favorite snack to have on hand. It’s like eating candy bars, but with zero guilt…until I eat three of them. Then there’s guilt. Gotta rein it in a little. Natural sugar is still, you know, sugar.

Related post: The BEST EVER gluten-free sandwich bread

These chocolate peanut butter bars are so easy to make (if you have a food processor. If you don’t have a food processor, you NEED a food processor! It’s life-changing), and they’re exactly what they sound like. Chocolatey, peanut buttery goodness.

Are you a smooth or crunchy peanut butter person?

I love crunchy peanut butter. Crunchy is my favorite, so I like to add ½ cup of peanuts to these chocolate peanut butter Lara bars toward the very end of the process (get it?! PROCESS?) . That way I get bigger chunks of peanuts in the bars that remind me of that crunchy peanut butter. But if smooth is your thing, you’ll just add all the peanuts in earlier.

So good, you guys, either way.

I make these chocolate peanut butter homemade Lara Bars almost every single week. That way we have them consistently and I’m less likely to indulge in bad-for-you chocolate when cravings hit midday.

 I’m really a milk chocolate girl. I wish I loved dark chocolate! It would be so much better for me. But I just don’t. I’ll eat it, but not with the same level of joy as I would milk chocolate. So when I say “bad for you chocolate,” I mean it. I’ll eat that milk chocolate if it’s there. And there’s no health benefits to that stuff. These homemade Lara bars help keep things healthier for me.

BONUS: If you’re pregnant like I am, dates are supposed to be extremely helpful in softening your cervix and getting you ready for a better labor. Instead of eating plain dates (hey, I’ll do that, too) you can enjoy these chocolate peanut butter bars and reap some extra benefits along with a chocolate fix!

Ok, enough chit chat, let’s get to it! Happy chocolate-eating!

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Homemade Chocolate Peanut Butter Lara Bars

Yield: 8-10 bars

Homemade protein bars made with clean, simple ingredients, no grains, and no refined sugar. Easy and simple homemade Lara Bars that will only cost 25 cents a bar!

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Ingredients

• 1 cup dates, pitted and soaked in warm water for 5-10 minutes
• 1 ½ cups dry roasted peanuts
• ¼ cup cocoa powder, unsweetened
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp salt (omit if using salted peanuts)

Instructions

1. Drain the softened dates well (you can save the water to sweeten coffee or tea or whatever)
2. In a food processor bowl fitted with an s blade, add dates, peanuts (reserve half a cup if wanting bigger peanut bits in your bars like me!), cocoa, vanilla, and salt
3. Process on low for a minute until it starts to break down, then scrape down the sides
4. Turn the processor up to high until everything is well incorporated and smooth. This can take a minute or two.
5. Once it starts to turn into a ball around the blade, it’s ready. Add the remainder of the peanuts and pulse until the pieces break up. Scrape and repeat
6. Press the “dough” into a glass 6x4 dish, or bread pan. You can also roll these into balls if you’d rather. Just put cocoa powder on your hands first!
7. Place in fridge and let harden for about 30 minutes
8. Slice and enjoy!

Did you make this recipe?

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