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Peanut Butter Chocolate Lara Bars were my eldest daughter’s very favorite flavor of Lara bars. And really, who can blame her?! Peanut butter and chocolate are such a great combination. When my son’s hives pointed to peanuts, we knew we needed to get all peanuts out of the house.
It took a few tries, but my girls love sunflower seed butter as much as they ever loved peanut butter. We go through one homemade batch a week! And when we shifted towards a a more Paleo lifestyle, sunflower seeds were already well established and loved in our house.
I am not sure why it took me so long to think of recreating my daughter’s favorite Lara bar with sunflower seeds as a base…but life is like that sometimes. The obvious kind of lurks in the recesses until one day, BAM! You have an epiphany.
I am happy to report the whole family loved these bars, and my daughter has her favorite flavor back!
Here are couple other raw energy bars that are portable and convenient for on-the-go snacks!
- Chocolate Cranberry Lara Bars (they really DO taste like a brownie)
- Raw Cashew Cookie Balls
- Raw Fudge Brownie Bites
- 2 cups roasted, unsalted sunflower seeds
- 15-18 Medjool dates, pitted
- ¼ teaspoon sea salt, or more to taste
- ¼ cup mini dark chocolate chips, to taste
- 2-4 tablespoons coconut oil if necessary
- Place tasted sunflower seeds into the bowl of a food processor. Whir for a couple of minutes and watch as the sunflower seeds turn into a flour and then start to clump up a bit as it converts towards a butter!
- Add in your dates and salt, and process to break up and pulverize the dates. Mixture should be sticky and press together easily. If not, add a tablespoon or two of melted coconut oil.
- Add in chocolate chips and pulse a few times just to mix.
- Press the sticky batter into an 8 x 8 or comparably sized pan. I like to line with waxed paper for easy removal.
- Press the mixture evenly into the dish.
- Refrigerate or freeze to firm up, then slice up into desired shapes & size.
This recipe was shared on Slightly Indulgent Tuesday, Tasteful Tuesday, Fat Tuesday, Hearth & Soul, Traditional Tuesdays, Eco Kids Tuesday, GF Wednesday, Seasonal Celebration Wednesday, Healthy 2Day Wednesday, Real Food Wednesday, Whole Foods Wednesday, Wildcrafting Wednesday, Wheat Free Wednesday, Full Plate Thursday, Thank Your Body Thursday, Tasty Traditions, Simple Lives Thursday, Pennywise Platter, Wellness Weekend, Fight Back Friday, Fresh Bites Friday, Whole Foods Friday. GF Friday, Healthy Vegan Fridays, Simple Meals Friday, Made From Scratch Monday, Allergy Friendly Friday, My Meatless Monday, Make Your Own Monday, Natural Living Monday, Motivation Monday,
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When her third child was born with severe food allergies, Tessa took to the kitchen to figure out how to feed her family well. Always up for a culinary challenge, their journey has taken many twists and turns! Lots of Paleo, and lots of top 8 free. Good food for families, that's what she's about!
wow…I’m doing math at 1:45 am…lol…but it’s worth it! What a sweet treat! Thanks for sharing, will give it a try…I’m a chocolate purist…but my guys love PB and Chocolate as your girl…so this is for them! Came hopping over from Nap-Time creations party
Lizy
I love making cherry larabars. These look great too!
I just made these. They are AMAZINGLY GOOD! I’ve made other date and nut “Lara” bars from other Paelo sites and they are also good, but these are incredible. Just be patient forming the mass. Mine was quite crumbly, use your hands to bring it together into a ball. Place between wax paper and smash it as flat as you can with a 9×9 Pyrex dish or similar.
Hi Ford, so glad you loved them! The mixture should not be so hard to press together…maybe process longer next time..good for you for making it work! Thanks for your feedback….
These look sooo good! I can’t wait to make them
This is fantastic. My kids are not allowed to bring any food with nuts, which rules out most bars at the store, but these would be a wonderful option. Thanks so much!
Hi!
Haven’t made these yet, but I’m wondering if you know how much in cup amount of already made sunflower butter the 2 cups of seeds translates to? I have the butter already, but wondering if you know? Thank you.
Claire
Hi Claire! Sunflower butter will not work for this recipe…it won’t hold together, it is too runny. The seeds are not processed long enough to get to nut butter stage in this recipe. I could help you modify based on what you diet needs/wishes are if you like! Paleo? Sugar free? Treat? Snack? Just GF?
Thanks for the info:). I can use the butter otherwise! I will just go with the seeds!
Looks lip-smackin-good! Thanks for sharing this recipe in our recipe hop. Your recipes are always so tasty
Hi Tessa,
Your Bars look delicious, we will just love them. Have a great St. Patrick’s Day and thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday!
Come Back Soon,
Miz Helen
They are my favorite midnight snack.Thank for answering @Claire regarding sunflower butter. I thinking about using until i noticed your reply.
They look delish! Thanks for sharing on Wildcrafting Wednesday
These look delicious too! I haven’t baked with dates yet, but know it is coming soon lol
Thanks for sharing with us at Eco-Kids Tuesday! Hope you join us again today! http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2013/03/flip-trainer-review-at-eco-kids-tuesday.html
I used to make Larabars all the time with nuts. Why didn’t I think of trying sunflower seeds? This is definitely going to be an AFW feature!
Tessa, these look GREAT and easy! I love that. Makes a great snack for my hungry growing boys! Thanks for linking up at our Gluten Free Fridays party! I have tweeted and pinned your entry to our Gluten Free Fridays board on Pinterest!
Thanks for linking back to the Gluten Free Fridays post!
Party starts tomorrow at 7:05 pm eastern time! Hope to see you there!
Cindy from vegetarianmamma.com
Do you need to use toasted sunflower seeds? I buy raw, unsalted sunflower seeds. Can I just use those or should I toast them? Do you know times/temps for toasting the seeds?
Hi Lauren1 I d not think this would taste very good with raw seeds, but it would certainly work. I toast my own seeds at 350 for about 20 minutes…you start to smell them and they will look golden!
These bars look great and I love the simplicity of ingredients and how healthy they are! Thanks for sharing on Hearth & Soul Hop.
Hi just made these and they are AMAZING!! I will be making them over and over
thanks for this recipe!! BTW not sure if you can call them paleo as the chocolate chips are processed ( for the strict paleo people) but I am not one of them so thanks again 
Hi juli, thanks for your feedback! Yes, dark chocolate is not technically Paleo….but I am like you, little here and there a welcome treat!