You Must Make This Right Now

I have a thing for Lara Bars. These tasty bars contain three simple things: dried fruit, raw nuts, and spices. They are delicious and nutritious. There's only one drawback: they are very expensive.

Luckily I recently fell in love with Pinterest and discovered that my friend Sarah had located a blog with a recipe for homemade Lara bars. The recipe looked easy and all of the ingredients were in my kitchen (one of the perks of buying dried fruit and nuts in bulk at Costco).

I've now made these bar three times in two weeks. They are amazing. You need to make them. All you need are dates, dried fruit, nuts, cinnamon, and a food processor. Don't have those things? Get off of your butt and go buy them. Now. Even if it means you need to buy a small appliance. That is how good these bars are. If you come to my house I will force-feed you them until you admit that you love them and your life will not be complete until you make them and have them in your refrigerator at all times.

These are amazing bars. And they are so easy to make I was compelled to document the entire process in an effort to convert you. As you can see, these are bars so good they make you crazy.

Step 1: Get Fruity

Put dried fruit into a food processor. I went with blueberries and dates and dried cherries and dates. Yes I love these bars so much I made two kinds in one day. Get off my back.

If you are able to get these in the bowl without eating any dates I applaud you. I have a date addiction and need to constantly taste.

Once the fruit is in the food processor, process it (I told you it was a simple recipe). You want it to go from this:

To this:

When it is mushy like in the photo put it in a bowl.

Step 2: Go Nuts

I've made the bars with almonds, pecans, and pistachios. Pecans are my favorite. Pick the nuts you want to go with and process them.

They should go from this:

To this:

Once chopped, put it in the bowl with the fruit.

Step 3: Spice it up

Add a dash of cinnamon.

Your bowl should look like this. When you look in the bowl you will probably be questioning my love of these bars.

Step 4: Mix it up

You'll need to use your hands.

Mash it up until it looks like this:

Step 5: Wrap it up

Split the goo in half. Wrap your bars in saran wrap and store them in the fridge. When you are running out of the house and need to eat breakfast grab one on the go and congratulate yourself on being so prepared.

Now head on over to Enlightened Cooking to get the recipe and make these.

You're welcome, America.