While spring seems like it’s never going to get here, I still have spring cleaning on my mind. Yesterday I had the itch to get our pantry cleaned out and sorted. As I was going through the pantry, I kept finding half empty containers of ingredients (like the FIVE different partial bags of chocolate chips….seriously). My goal in this next week is to make use of all these ingredients and start to pare down our pantry.

As I stared at my mess, my eyes wandered to a big tub of dates and I finally decided to try my hand at making some homemade Larabar copycat bars (but with a little extra something). 😉 I love Larabars, but admittedly I’m cheap and they tend to be a bit on the pricy side. I can say that after making this recipe and seeing just how easy and simple they are to make that I’ll probably not buy them anymore.

These bars turned out SOOO good! Not only are they simple to make and made with wholesome, real ingredients but they’re also:

  • Dairy-free
  • Vegan and/or plant-based (if made with vegan protein powder)
  • Naturally sweetened
  • A great source of protein

It doesn’t get much better than that! I decided to add protein powder to these bars to give them an extra protein boost. You could omit protein powder, if desired (also omit the water if you do so).

Chocolate Peanut Date Bars

Chewy, sweet, chocolatey and oh-so-good!
Prep Time 5 minutes
Total Time 35 minutes
Course Snack
Servings 6 bars

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cups dates loosely packed
  • 1/2 cup chocolate protein powder use plant based for vegan bars
  • 2 Tbsp peanut butter
  • 1/2 cup roasted peanuts unsalted preferred
  • 2 Tbsp cocoa powder
  • 2-3 Tbsp water use more or less, as needed
  • dash of salt to taste
  • chocolate chips optional
  • sea salt optional

Instructions
 

  • Add peanuts to processor (using the blade attachment) and pulse a few times until peanuts are a bread-crumb like texture.
  • Add dates, protein powder, peanut butter, cocoa powder and salt and process until it forms a clump or ball. Add water as needed if mixture is too dry to clump together.
  • Line a shallow pan with parchment paper and press mixture into pan uniformly. Press in chocolate chips and sea salt if desired.
  • Place pan with mixture into fridge for 30 minutes. Cut into bars.

Let me know if you give them a try! Is there any specific flavor that you’d love to see re-created?

Spread the love