Chocolate Homemade Larabars, plus a removal trick

Chocolate chocolate chip and white chocolate macadamia homemade larabarsI decided to make some more decadent Larabar flavors. While blending them, I came across a trick that makes it easier to get the mixture out of the Vitamix container. I made white chocolate macadamia and chocolate chocolate chip, both using the same date-cashew base as the original batch. The chocolate chocolate chip ones are my new favorite—super chocolatey and satisfying.

The trick is that a little oil coating in the container around the blades prevents the date-nut mixture from sticking. I happened upon it because I wanted to see if I could chop the macadamias in the batch. I blended the cashews and dates until they were most of the way done, then added macadamias. The macadamias broke down too quickly to leave the chunks I was looking for, but they also released oil (likely because they were roasted). The oil coated the inside of the container, and prevented the thick mixture from sticking. The date-nut mixture did still stick to the blades a little, but it came out easier.

I made the batches back-to-back, and the oil from the first batch also kept the second batch from sticking, even though the second one didn’t have oily macadamias. So that means you could just wipe a little oil (or use a cooking spray) around the inside of the container before adding ingredients.

The other lesson here is that if you want to keep significant chunks of nuts, mix them in after blending. In principle you could blend them in at low speed, but then you have to be careful about overheating, and they could still end up too small.

White Chocolate Macadamia

1⅛ cup raw cashews (150g)
1⅛ cup pitted dates (150g)
pinch salt
small splash vanilla
Topping:
¼ cup white chocolate chips (40g)
⅓ cup chopped macadamia nuts (40g)
(A few chopped walnuts snuck into the batch in the photo above, which is optional)

chocolate-chocolate-chip-homemade-larabar-closeupChocolate Chocolate Chip

1⅛ cup raw cashews (150g)
4 Tbsp cocoa powder (23g)
1⅛ cup pitted dates (150g)
pinch salt
small splash vanilla
Topping:
¼ cup semisweet chocolate chips (40g)

(These batch sizes are a bit bigger than my original one, just because of the amount of dates that I wanted to use up. Each makes about 7 Larabar-equivalents.)

If desired, wipe or spray a little oil in the bottom of the Vitamix container. Then add ingredients in the order listed, except for the topping ingredients. Secure the lid, then quickly ramp up the speed to high. Use the tamper to repeatedly push ingredients down into the blades. Blend ~30 sec until it forms a thick paste. Leaving some chunks is fine. (If you blend it until it gets completely smooth, the bars will be stickier.)

Ideally, scrape out the container with a long, narrow, rigid spatula. Form bars by rolling out the paste with wax paper or pressing into a pan. Press in topping ingredients, then put in the refrigerator to cool and harden. Once chilled, cut into bars.

I decided to wrap the bars individually and put in the freezer, where they keep essentially indefinitely. They have low water content, so they don’t freeze rock-hard, and you can eat them right out of the freezer. I think I may even prefer them cold.


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Comments

Chocolate Homemade Larabars, plus a removal trick — 3 Comments

    • Yes, absolutely. If you look at the official list of Larabar flavors, there are plenty without cashews. The one thing that I would recommend is to avoid using 100% of a high-oil nut. For example, if you want to use pecans or macadamias, I would combine them with something like almonds, which are lower oil.

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