Another chocolate recipe?
My goodness, you’d think this was some sort of chocolate-covered blog.
Oh wait; that’s right. It is.
The first time I tried a Larabar, I didn’t really like it. My mistake was in choosing a cherry-flavored bar. Someone should’ve shaken me and said, Hello! Of course you didn’t like it, Katie. It has no chocolate!”
When I tried a Jocalat chocolate Larabar, it was love at first bite. As a busy college student with no time to bake brownies, these bars offered a quick cure for my chocolate cravings (or a stopgap anyway. I doubt I will ever find a cure for my chocoholism… but that’s perfectly ok with me!)
Recently, I’ve been having trouble locating Jocalats. Thank goodness I know how to make my own chocolate Larabars.
Plus, they’re cheaper than store-bought and save packaging too.
Hot Fudge Brownie Larabars
Based on the recipe for Fudge Babies.
- 1 cup walnuts (120 g)
- 1 and 1/3 cups pitted dates (220 g) (I love SunMaid dates, as they’re much softer.)
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- 3-4 tbsp cocoa powder (or even Dutch cocoa)
- optional: 1/8 plus 1/16 tsp salt (I always add it)
- optional: chocolate chips or even a piece of a chocolate bar or baking chocolate
Blend all the ingredients, using a food processor or Magic Bullet. No need to blend the dates first; I just blend everything all at once in my MB. If you use drier dates than SunMaid, you might have to add up to 1 tbsp water. Form into bars. It might help to put dough in a plastic bag and close the bag, then shape into a bar. (Feel free to experiment with different nut combinations. I often sub almonds or cashews for some of the walnuts.)
Click for more flavors: Homemade Larabar Recipes.
What are your favorite Larabar flavors?
One of my favorite homemade larabar flavors: Homemade Oatmeal Cookie Larabars.
As for the real Larabars, my favorite flavors are the plain chocolate Jocalats and the cookie dough Larabars. I love making up my own flavors and am thinking chocolate-raspberry might have to be next! Any other flavor suggestions for homemade Larabar recipes you’d like to see?
i have to admit larabars arent my favorite theyre OK but man these are really freaking good! definately hits the spot when i have a sweets/chocolate craving!
Do you taste the dates? Or are they mainly there to provide the chewy texture? I was just wondering because I don’t like dried fruit but this looks like a really cool recipe!
I don’t think they taste like dates at all!
Can you freeze the Larabars???
Yes!
I just found your site recently, and have already told tons of people about it! I made the oatmeal raisin Lara bars yesterday and took them to class with me and they were gone instantly, along with the recipe. Today I had to make another batch of them and I made a batch of these to take to work tomorrow to share they are sooooo awesome.
I didn’t have any dates on hand so I did like someone else did and used half raisins an half prunes instead. Made for a really moist and almost sticky bar. To fix that was easy. I just tossed some oatmeal in the processor with about a teaspoon of cocoa powder, pulsed it a few times to break down the oats and patted the bars with it. Gave the bars a nice coating, and now easy to handle and my fingers aren’t sticky. 🙂
Thank you sooo much for your recipes, can’t wait to try them all!!!!
i just made these with dried cherries in place of the dates and some added espresso powder to make them black forest cakey. thanks for such an easily adaptable recipe!
The fav Larabar in our house is the chocolate coffee Jocalat. I just may take your recipe and add some espresso powder, I’d think it’d work out, don’t you?
Definitely!
Hye Katie..!! i found your website a few moths back and i told myself i should have found your website a loooooonnnnggg time ago..i am a chocolate lover plus health-concious kind a person, so while eating chocolate, i don’t want to be covered with guilty..if u know what i mean..hahahaah..and thank god i found your website and it such a joy trying all of your recipe..love it.. 🙂
Hi Katie! I just made a batch of these little nuggets of deliciousness. Formed them into balls and rolled them in toasted coconut. So easy to make and so deeply satisfying 🙂 Thanks for sharing this recipe.
I just whipped up a batch of these. This is the first recipe I’ve made from your blog. Very easy to throw together and it tasted great! This coming from a totally non-healthy trying to do better eater. If the rest of your recipes are as good as this then I can do it! I have your Key Lime Pie tarts in the fridge right now. Hubby will be the judge of that one. Not telling him it has tofu in it.
How many servings do you make from this recipe?
Thanks!
I usually make balls or mismatched-sized bars or cookies, but it makes around 360 grams total, which is the size of 8 Larabars (Larabars are 45g each).
Yummy!! I love making your treats! These are becoming my fav. Today when I made them I added crasins to them. and a tiny bit of augave too. I like that thigs on your blog are so easy to expermient with!
This is the first recipe I tried from your site and OMG it is delicious!!! My two year old daughter loves them and I don’t think twice about giving her a “cookie” if she asks for one:)
I stumbled on your blog through Pinterest! I’m SO glad I did! I just made these Hot Fudge Brownie Larabars and they are A-Mazing! Thank you! Now I don’t feel guilty indulging in my love of chocolate!
In case I missed it somewhere… and not that I expect them to last long,
but what is the shelf life of these??
a few weeks fridged, a few months frozen! A few days at least, unfridged.
For all your recipes that call for dates, can I sub raisins and still get similar results?
Sorry, I haven’t tried so I can’t personally vouch for the taste! But texture-wise, it should be fine.
I made these as fudge babies last night (amazing) Luckily I only made a half batch because I ate all of them. I was wondering if anyone has attempted to add protein powder to them? I just got some hemp protein powder and was thinking about giving it a shot, didn’t know if anyone had already been there and had any recomendations on if it’s a “do!” or a “don’t!”
I haven’t, but I think a few of the commenters on the fudge baby page have done it and liked the results! Maybe use less cocoa powder?