Making your own bars

Spyer116

Last week, I bought a few "Naked" bars, (banana bread, and cashew cookie were the two kinds I got 2 of each). And the ingredients were minimal/simple. (cashew cookie being just cashews + dates, and nothing else for example)
At the time I didn't realise they were gluten/wheat/dairy / everything free.
I have no interest or care about gluten/wheat/dairy/etc free. Doesn't bother me in the slightest.

But the concept of having some tasty bars / treats that're literally 2-4 simple ingredients that almost all homes would have just lying on the table or in a cupboard, does intrigue me.

I was wondering does anyone have any recipes or knowledge in making those sort of treats? Is it just mushing together some peanuts, bananas, dates, raisins, or whatever else you want in them. Shaping it into a bar shape, then just freezing the resulting shaped mush? Or is there some cooking or other steps involved?
Keeping in mind, I have zero knowledge on cooking/baking/etc and don't really have any proper cooking utensils or even measuring things (cups / weighing scales / measuring spoons, etc)

alliesgettinghealthy

I haven't made any but that sounds similar to Lara bars, which are only 3-4 ingredients. From what I've seen they are simple and easy to make. Just Google Lara bar recipes or Naked bar recipes, you could also try adding copycat recipe to your search. Good luck! !

Spyer116

I never heard of Lara Bars, but will look them up. Thanks so much for the help!

Francl27

There are recipes out there... check google. I personally don't bother because it typically makes more than I want to eat before they go bad.

acheben

I made some copycat cherry pie lara bars and they were super simple to make. The recipe made 12 or 16 bars, but they froze really well.

Cheri1218

I have made them before. You need a food processor. Just Google Lara Bar recipes. Most use figs for the binder (stickiness) but some can use raisins. Yummy, easy, and cheaper.

lynn_glenmont

I've never made any in this style, but I have eaten them. it seems like what you would want to do is really grind up /mash/process/finely chop a small amount of whatever dried fruit you're using (figs, dates, raisins, etc.) to act as binder, then chop the remaining fruit and nuts and what have you (chocolate chips ) into larger, recognizable pieces (chopping each cashew into 2 to 4 pieces for example), mix it all together, and shape into bars (you might try lightly oiling your hands to shape them, because they should be fairly sticky from the sugar in the crushed fruit). I would just wrap each bar in waxed paper then put the entire batch in an airtight container. I don't see any reason for freezing them if you're going to eat them within a week or two. This style shouldn't be "mush" (unlike protein bars made with ingredients like nut butters and protein powders).

Good luck.