First of all, forgive me if I ramble or straight up make no sense…my 6 month old has decided sleep is for suckers so I’m pretty darn tired right now. Okay….on to the balls!

I have a confession to make: I wanted to make Lara bars but they turned out too crumbly. One of my friends later pointed out that I needed to process the ingredients until they form a ball in the food processor. I did not do that…therefore, no bars, just balls.

Anyway, I’m okay with the balls. They taste exactly like Apple Pie Lara bars so I have zero complaints. I love this recipe because you can really use whatever dried fruits/nuts you’d like. I love the apple flavor so I added dried apples. The basic recipe is nuts (walnuts, cashews, almonds-all or 1 or 2), dates, plus whatever else you’d like if anything.

I had a tough time finding dried fruit that didn’t have any added sugar. I finally found dried apples at Walmart of all places. I’m sure you could find more options at a health food store or Whole Foods-anywhere with bulk bins.

I got the recipe from a friend of mine…easy peasy:

Apple Pie Energy Balls

(about 115 calories each- makes about 10 balls)

1 cup walnuts

1 cup dried apples (no sugar added)

1/4 cup dates, pitted

1 1/2 tsp of cinnamon

1/8 tsp salt

Everything in the food processor and blend, blend, blend! Easy. Like I said if you wanted to make bars, blend the ingredients until they form a ball in your food processor.

After mixing the ingredients, I formed them into little balls and stuck them in the fridge. All done!

I attempted to calculate the calories in each ball and I believe they’re each about 115 calories (I say about because it is certainly possible my math is off…it usually is..but I’m thinking it shouldn’t be off by too much).

I’m excited to try other flavors and see what I come up with! I’m curious if you actually save money by making your own Lara bars. I’ll try to figure out the math on whether it actually makes sense to make your own bars versus buying. I’ll check the prices of the nuts I used next time I’m in the grocery store. It’s hard to say…Lara bars are a little pricey…but buying nuts are too.

Have you made your own Lara bars or other types of bars? Any good recipes you want to share?