Make your own apple pie Larabars at home for a fraction of the price

There was a full year when I pretty much lived off of Larabars. It was right when I started to clean up my diet and eat healthier about six years ago, and my go-to snack was always a Larabar. Made with really simple ingredients (all of which I could pronounce), they were a great option for long workdays on the road when hunger struck.

That said, it was an expensive habit to keep up. When I finally got a legitimate food processor a year or so later, I decided making my own was much more economical. A few healthy ingredients (nuts, dates, spice and fruit of choice), a minute or so whizzing around in the food processor, and that’s essentially all you need to make your own.

Since it’s apple season, their apple pie flavor seems the most relevant, but feel free to switch out the fruit (just use any other dried or freeze-dried fruit), and change the spices accordingly for whatever flavor you want. Add some chocolate chips if you’re feeling crazy, and even play around with a flavor combination you wish they sold but don’t. They’re really the simplest snack out there and one you can feel good about eating.

Copycat apple pie Larabar recipe

Yields 10-12

Prep time: 10 minutes | Inactive time: 1 hour | Total time: 1 hour 10 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecans
• 3/4 cup almonds
• 8 pitted medjool dates
• 1/4 cup raisins
• 1 cup freeze-dried apples
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1-2 tablespoons unsweetened applesauce

Directions:

1. In a food processor, combine all the ingredients except for the applesauce. Process until finely chopped.
2. With the food processor running, slowly add the applesauce until the mixture starts to stick together. Only use as much applesauce as necessary so that the mixture sticks together when pinched.
3. Line an 8 x 8-inch baking dish with parchment paper, and turn out the mixture on top.
4. Press firmly and evenly into the dish, making sure to get the mixture into the corners. An offset spatula will help this process if you have one.
5. Place the dish in the refrigerator for about 1 hour to firm up.
6. Remove the parchment from the baking dish, and cut into bars.
7. Keep refrigerated in a tightly sealed container, or wrap up the bars individually in plastic wrap for easy snacking.

More snack recipes

Afternoon apple bites with cream cheese and honey
Skinny chocolate-stuffed raspberries
Homemade healthy granola bars