Cashew-Chia Bars

Hello!

I wanted to share this tasty energy treat that I tried out the other night.  One of the blogs I follow is Rabbit Food For My Bunny Teeth and she had a post a few weeks back about LARABAR.  LARABAR is known for their clean, unprocessed bars that have very few ingredients in them.  They can be a couple of bucks per bar so RFFMBT made her own version of the Cashew Cookie LARABAR.  You can find her recipe here.  I followed the basics of Catherine's recipe, but I added my own ingredients to it to make it even more of an antioxidant powerhouse.

The ingredients:  unsalted cashews, medjool dates, 90% cocoa chocolate, chia seeds, and a little water (if needed)

Take 1/2 cup of unsalted cashews and pulse in a food processor until broken into little pieces.  I imagine it is kind of your preference on how big or small the cashew chunks are.  I then took 1 cup of the dates, pitted them, and added to the cashews in the food processor.  I also broke up two squares of my Lindt dark chocolate and added it to the mix at this time.  I blended this until it was beginning to come together and added two tablespoons of chia seeds and a table spoon of water.  I finished blending this when the consistency is sticky and well-mixed. I then formed it into a ball as RFFMBT suggested and placed it on plastic wrap and placed another piece of plastic wrap over it and rolled it out with a rolling pin.

I then cut it into rectangles (clearly I need work on making them equal sizes) and wrapped them in plastic wrap.  I keep a couple in the fridge for easy afternoon snacks and the rest in the freezer for future use.  I got the ingredients in bulk at Costco so I can make more and have a bunch in the freezer.


This is a nice snack that has a serving of fruit (dates), healthy fats (chia seeds are high in omegas and cashews are also a healthy fat), and antioxidants (from the dark chocolate).  I would like to experiment with some protein powder at some point but just found out that I'm lactose intolerant and all the protein powders I currently have have dairy in them. 

Having these on hand for the last couple of days have been good for curbing my sweet tooth.  The dates are super sweet and just a little bit goes a long way.  If you are looking for something that tastes like a candy bar, this is not it.  They are good, but they are healthy good so approach them with that in mind.  I must say that these are cheap and easy to make and I see these chillin' in my fridge or freezer for the foreseeable future!

Let me know if you tried/liked them and any modifications you made!  I would check out the original recipe here before you make them because she gives more detail and Lord knows that I know nothing about making food other than following recipes.  I was just proud that I ventured out to add the chia seeds and the chocolate! Ha!

Until next time!