Lara Bars! well sort of with roasted almonds and dried blueberries

I know I read Mark Bittman a lot. I scour all remote corners of the internet and devour what he has to say. You have got to read the linked article if you think cereal and granola bars are healthy food.

I have a severe addiction to sugar so it is a good thing I cannot stand cereal and milk and not very fond of granola bars either. The biggest problem though, I do not dislike all of them bars, so I end up eating the few of them a lot. I am not averse to munching on dry cereal either. The problem though with these food items is with their reputation as health food it is easy to overlook and get an overload of sugar.

I prefer eating sweets cognizant of the fact that it is to be consumed in small quantities. With stealth sweets like granola bars and cereals it is hard to figure out how much is too much.

The kids too eat a lot of these bars grabbing one before any activity they are off to. So this recipe for Homemade Cherry Pie Larabar inspired me try making them at home again. They are very similar to the Date 'n Nut Balls which I have been meaning to make forever.

I had dried blueberries so used that in place of the cherries in the recipe. I prefer using toasted nuts to raw nuts but use what works for you. I used a spatula to press the powdered stuff into the the pan but hands would have worked much better. That is how they ended up as balls rather than bars. The kneading also brings out the natural oils which helps bind them together much better methinks. I used Deglet Noor Dates. Mejdool dates according to Jen the author of the original recipe are supposed to be better because they have more moisture in them.

Roasted Almond and Dried Blueberries Energy Bars Balls
Ingredients
1. 1 1/2 cups of roasted almonds
2. 1 1/4 cups of Dates
3. 1 1/2 cups of dried Blueberries

Method
1. Take equal portion of nuts, blueberries and dates and chop them with the blender so the nuts are roughly chopped and the dates have lost their shape and are in small pieces. (the blueberries are harder to chop)
2. I mixed them together with a spatula. Dumped them into a square shaped cake pan and pressed them down and left it in the fridge for 3 hours. When I dumped them on to a board they fell apart so at this stage I used my hands to knead the mixture and shape them into balls.
2. Dump the mixture into a bowl and knead them with the hand so they are coming together and the nuts and fruit stick together. Transfer the mixture over to a pan and press them down firmly. Refrigerate for an hour and cut them into bars .

Energy in the palm of your hands.