Healthy Tasty Chowcleaner recipes, reviews, toddler mom stuff and food chatter

Lara bars make a great, nutritious snack.  They’re for the most part made of Dates, the fruit from the package (apples, cherry, banana…) and nuts which means there is no added sugar and they’re gluten-free, raw and vegan.  That’s it, they’re very simple and since they’re not covered in chocolate, a great snack to throw in your purse.  The date is sticky so it holds together well through travel.  If you’ve only tried a few flavors and weren’t sure about them, I just wanted to run down the list of all the flavors I have tried so you may want to give them a second chance if you weren’t enthralled with your first try.

• Cherry Pie:  Surprisingly delicious!  Cherry flavored things typically taste like medicine to me or are too overwhelming.  I do not like cherry pie itself but luckily, this Larabar doesn’t taste like a cherry pie.  The dates mellow out the cherry flavor and the almonds provide the right crunch and accompaniment to the cherry.  My toddler liked this flavor the best and kept stealing it from me.  He spit out most other flavors but banana, which he only wanted a couple of bites of.
• Banana Cookie:  Well, it’s good, but for me it’s easy to cook with banana and I’d rather have something with banana and chocolate or peanut butter.  So, overall impression, good, but just banana.  It sort of tastes like a super-dense and moist banana bread.
• Pistachio:  The dates were too sweet and don’t go so well with pistachio.
• Gingersnap:  Tastes like more of a spice cookie than a gingersnap, lots of clove.  Just ok.  If you like spice cookies, you’d probably love them.
• Apple Pie:  Yummy!  The tartness of the apple goes really well with the date, raisins, walnuts, almonds and cinnamon.
• Cinnamon Roll:  Bland, doesn’t taste like a cinnamon roll, or much of anything really.
• Chocolate Coconut:  My old favorite.  I used to buy dozens of these but then I took a long break.  If you like chocolate and coconut, I think Larabar did a great job of getting this right with no added sugar by using unsweetened cocoa and unsweetened coconut. 
• Coconut Cream Pie:  Honestly, how in the world did they get this so creamy?  It’s actually too rich for me.  I liked the flavor but just a couple of bites and the creaminess is overwhelming.  It’s just some coconut oil but it really made it creamy.  Healthy and smart, but creamy.
• Lemon Bar:  The lemon is too bland or lemon-flavorish rather than real, I think it needs lemon peel and more/different bran of  lemon juice concentrate.
• Peanut Butter Cookie:  Doesn’t taste like a peanut butter cookie.  Doesn’t taste like peanut butter to me at all.  You can taste the peanuts but this has the potential to taste like an awesome pb&j but it was just too bland for me as well.
• Cashew Cookie:  Yum!  Cashews are pretty rich but the rich flavor of the cashew went nicely with the dates.  A good combo but I could only eat half due to the richness of both flavors together.
• Pecan Pie:  The initial bite is a tad sweet and obvioulsy date - but as you keep chewing, the pecan does come through and is mighty tasty.  If you’re a pecan lover, the you can definitely taste the pecans here, but the date flavor is strong as well.  I like it!

A few years ago, I tried the Jocalot version that Larabar makes, and the available flavors at the time were too bitter and not flavorful enough.  Maybe I’d like the newer flavors but I don’t really feel like giving them a try.  If you love these Larabars to death you may want to make your own.  Just ground up some pitted dates in your food processor and add whatever dried fruit or nut.  I’m sure it would work best if you had a dehydrator to get the right flavor without having to buy sweetened dried fruit.  I’m not going to make them since I definitely can’t eat these in bulk.  I like dates but in small quantities. Personally, I’d rather just buy some lara bars when I feel like it.