Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars
Today we are making Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars! Larabars are a popular brand of energy bars known for their (mainly raw) 3 or 4-ingredients that are all whole foods based. They make decadent dessert flavors ranging from Chocolate Brownie, Peanut Butter and Double Chocolate Truffle. But then on the other hand, they make fruity flavors like Apple Pie, Banana Bread, Blueberry Muffin, Coconut Cream!
And that’s just the tip of the iceberg here – this Cashew Cookie flavor falls in between the decadent and fruity. It’s not on either end, but it’s full of energy and is a delicious and easy-to-make bar that doesn’t require many ingredients, just like traditional Larabars!
Sure, buying store-bought Larabars is convenient. But making homemade Larabars allows you to customize the flavors and control the ingredients. It’s fresh, reduces the packaging from buying individually packaged bars, and you don’t have to stick to just the one flavor that comes in each store-bought pack!
Why You’ll Love These Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars
Only 3 Ingredients: How good is convenient snacking? In this busy life, we’re constantly looking for easy recipes that use minimal ingredients, minimal equipment and takes as little time as possible. This homemade version check off all these boxes, with just a base of oats, cashews and Medjool dates in one food processor! Pack it for kids in their lunch boxes as a healthy snack, add it to your work bag for munching on while you scroll Excel for hours at a time, or grab one for a quick snack when you need the energy to clean the entire house (Saturday chores anyone?!) Really, Larabars are perfect for anytime, any day.
Larabar Copycat: I had a big Larabar phase, where I would eat one almost every day for years during university. Maybe it had something to do with the fact that my school barely had any vegan energy bars available, save for a few Larabar flavors. Since then, I was hooked. I would check out different grocery stores only to look for flavors that my school didn’t carry. Eventually, I tried almost every flavor (and I still can’t decide on what my favorite Larabar is, they’re all so good). So I can confidently say that these Cashew Cookie bars do taste like the real thing, in taste and texture!
Substitutions
Medjool Dates: Medjool dates are the softest type of date variety for blending into no bake energy bar recipes, like this one. Deglet Noor dates may work as well, or any other very soft date. You should easily be able to squish the dates between your fingers. Using dates is amazing in this recipe because they have so much natural sugar that there’s no need for other added sugars here, as other energy bars do.
Oats: These no bake bars use dry quick-cooking oats, but you can also use rolled oats. Since they will be added to a spice grinder and made into a fine powder before using, either will work. Note that steel-cut oats have a different texture, and would not work the same if ground into a powder.
Raw Cashews: Using raw cashews keeps this recipe fully raw. It also reduces the added oil and salt that comes in roasted, salted cashews. As a substitution, using roasted cashews can work as well. Note that it won’t have the exact same flavor as the raw nut.
Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars Recipe Notes
- Press down raw cashews, mini vegan chocolate chips (if you have a sweet tooth for chocolate!) or other toppings into the top of the bars for an added crunch and nutritional boost! Traditional Larabars don’t have this, but feel free to switch it up.
More Homemade Energy Bars You’ll Love
Almond Sea Salt & Dark Chocolate Kind Bars
Vegan Oats & Honey Nature Valley Bars
Chickpea Chocolate Chip Protein Bars
Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookie Dough Bars
If you make these Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars, then leave a comment and star rating! Don’t forget to tag your photos @peanut_palate on Instagram. Enjoy!
Homemade 3-Ingredient Cashew Cookie Larabars
Equipment
- High-speed blender or food processor
Ingredients
- 1⅓ cup Medjool dates pitted
- ¼ cup dry quick-cooking oats
- 1 cup raw cashews
Instructions
- In a blender, blend the dry oats separately to make oat flour. Remove from the blender cup and add to a bowl.
- Now add only 10 tbsp of the raw cashews into the blender. Blend to turn it into cashew flour. I only had to blend it for a few seconds – don't over blend or it will go from dry powder into something that's closer to cashew butter instead!
- Once the cashews are made into a powder, add the oat flour and the dates.
- Blend until a dough forms (the consistency should be as shown in the pictures). Scrape down the sides of the food processor as needed in order to blend.
- Add in the remaining 6 tbsp of raw cashews, and pulse it 1-2 times until the dough has cashew chunks throughout. Do not over blend or you won't have any cashew chunks remaining in your dough, and the consistency of the dough itself will change if cashews are fully blended, rather than pulsed, in.
- Remove the dough from the blender and get a piece of wax paper, a silicon mat or a small baking tray lined with parchment paper.
- Pat the dough down as thick as shown in the pictures.
- Refrigerate for 2 hours. Then remove from the fridge and cut into 8 bars.
- Once cut, you can let them come to room temperature to eat them if preferred. To store, keep in an airtight container at room temperature or in the fridge.
Notes
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Storage
- Store in an airtight container in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.
