So, you’ve heard that focusing on experiences rather than things creates more lasting happiness, and you decided to plan a road trip, or camp in your backyard . . . or have a sleepover in your living room in a blanket fort. High five!
Fast forward a bit, and you’ve been in the car too long, or the littlest has requested eleventy billion potty breaks, or your flight runs late and you don’t have time to grab something healthy before heading to your destination – I’ve been there. Hangry is a thing, y’all, and it can definitely be avoided with a little planning.
In addition to these grass-fed beef sticks and this salmon jerky, I like to pack these energy bars for errands, road trips, hiking adventures, etc. This updated recipe is more chewy than the original but still tastes very similar to Cherry Pie Larabars. They always give us just the boost we need to get past a hangry moment and make good memories. I hope you love them as much as we do!
The best things in life are the people we love, the places we’ve been, and the memories we’ve made along the way.”
Homemade Cherry Pie Energy Bars
Ingredients
- 1 cup unsweetened dried tart cherries
- 1 cup medjool dates (pitted)
- 1 cup almonds
- ½ tsp cinnamon
Instructions
- Place dates, cherries and cinnamon in a food processor and process into a paste.
- Add almonds and pulse until almonds are well ground
- Remove the paste from a food processor and use your hands to form into 8 bars. I sometimes form mine into little hearts because . . . wait, I don’t really need a reason do I? They’re cute. 🙂
- Wrap tightly in wax paper and place in a sealed container. Can be kept at room temp for several days or in the fridge for several weeks.
Nutrition
Looking for more snack ideas?
I’ve put together a list of 21+ snack ideas kids love with simple recipes for things like homemade gummy snacks, paleo maple granola, maca energy bars along with some store-bought options as well.
Brandi Heuchert
Will be making those!!
Jenni
LOVE! Can not wait to make these. I think the cherry pie and ginger cookie Lararabars are my favorite ones!
Heather
Hmmm, ginger cookie? I’ve been missing out!
Mommypotamus
Hope you like them, Brandi Heuchert! My kids could barely wait for me to finish taking pics before they pounced 🙂
Heather
Lol! Great minds, huh?? I’ve used cranberries too but it’s hard to find any around here that don’t have tons of added sugar, oil and sulphate. I should probably look online!!
Anjanette
I found some unsweetened cranberries through a friend’s co-op. I honestly get Craisins sometimes just because they are cheaper, but we prefer to snack on raisins since it’s easier to avoid the additives. Azure standard sells some that are sweetened with apple juice.
Heather
We’re big raisin fans for the same reason 🙂
Diane
Wonderful! My husband and I just got back from California. One of our stops/purchases….a date farm!
Heather
Ohhhhh, love it! We stop at local farms/seafood merchants when we travel too!
Laura @ Gluten Free Pantry
I’m in love with these! Can’t wait to make these Larabars with my kids this weekend! Thanks for such a great recipe.
Heather
You’re welcome, Laura! Hope you enjoy them!
Elisa Glasser Levine
You just made my YEAR! Its not easy living 5,000 miles from the nearest Wholefoods but this will recipe will make it a lot easier!!!
Mommypotamus
Oh, and I hope you LOVE the larabars!
Rachel Miars Layne
Thanks for the great recipes! I just had a lemon larabar and it was SOOOOO good. If you happen to see a recipe for lemon or come up with one, I’d love that also (:
Sarah L
This looks good. My kids hate dates, but they love energy bars. Maybe this will be the happy compromise for us?
Heather
I hope so, Sarah! But if not you’ll get to keep them all to yourself 🙂
Heather
Hi Erica! They can be any size you like so how many they make is up to you. I hand mold mine into little hearts 🙂
Mandie
I’m so glad I found this recipe. My 3 year old loves lara bars and they’s such a great snack but the daycare he goes to is a nut-free school. My son doesn’t have a nut allergy but I’ve had to re-think a lot of snacks so that I can send them with him. I just made a batch of these yesterday and used sunflower seeds instead of almonds. They turned out great and now I’ve added a new snack to the repertoire :). Thanks for sharring!
Bette Lambert
I’ll be making these “energy bars” for the guys to take to the sugarwoods. We tap 22,000 maple trees and these sound perfect, adding a little maple sugar to the recipe!
Candace
These were super easy and are absolutely delicious! My three year old loved helping me measure all the ingredients and watching the food processor chop everything in to “teeeeeny tinnnnnnny pieces” Thanks for this!
Heather
Ahhh, so glad you liked it Candace! 😀
cherelei
love your website I’mm well past baby making age, but love your cherry recipe and yes the amount of nutrition from cherries can’t be beat!’ That’s why I planted 2 cherry trees last yr. and plan to plant 2 more this spring, actually I planted 15 different fruit trees, plus other trees as well, going TOTALLY Green!!! anywhere possible! Good Luck with all in your life and beautiful family too.
Lesley
Elizabeth~ I know this is loong past when you needed this info, but I made a double batch of these last night for 22 toddlers and each kid gets 1 decent-sized heart (each weighed 1 oz, and yes, I DO have an awesome kitchen scale!). I couldn’t find cherries that were sugar-free, so I used currants, dates, and a few tablespoons of organic cranberry juice concentrate to add some tart-ness. Also, because it was for a daycare with nut allergy issues, I used sunflower seeds and pepitas. AND, they were pretty darn sticky so I rolled them in coconut flakes. They’re AWESOME! (Extra thanks to Heather.)
Sarah
I made a (double) batch of these, and had to get stuff at the store to make 3 more double batches, slightly varied. I added in fine coconut flakes and a little coconut oil. Then I played with the flavors a little and made a blueberry cashew coconut version, and a coconut cranberry version to go with the cherry pie. These didn’t last a week in my house. Thanks for the recipe.
Jill
Sarah,
do you care to share your varied recipes ?
Kellie
These look amazing!
little jo
So when I think of my mom’s cherry pie it always had a distinct almond flavoring — needless to say I added a few drops of organic almond extract to the mix. Now that is what we’re talkin’ about! Oh, yeah!
Alisa Studer
What a healthy and clean snack for the kiddos and everyone actually. I love stuff with minimal ingredients that still taste delicious. I am for sure trying these, we take long trips in the car to go skiing all the time so these would be the perfect snack to bring. Thanks for sharing!
Ushmana Palmo Rai
Absolutely love it, quick yet simple!
Thak you for the amazing recipe, Heather!
Deb
I made the Cherry Pie bars for the first time. The flavor is wonderful, however, they were very gooey. I used canned tart cherries that I drained. Is this not a good alternative to the dried cherries. I was trying to use a low sugar alternative.
Heather
Unfortunately canned tart cherries contain a lot more moisture than dried cherries, so they won’t yield the same consistency.