Home Made, School Safe Lara Bars

Lara Bars are vegan snack bars made with a base of dates and nuts. I have adapted the recipe to make them nut free and therefore school safe. Making them nut free also makes it easier to take them anywhere for a snack on the go without worrying about nut allergies.
These are sweet and filling. The recipe can be adapted to different flavors, I will probably experiment in the future and post variations.

My School Safe Lara Bars are chocolate.

What you need:

1 cup sunflower seeds (I use roasted and unsalted)
1/4-1/2 cup of vegan chocolate chips
1 tablespoon cocoa powder
2 cups of pitted dates
2 tablespoons of sunflower seed butter


Prepare a small container (approx 8x8 but can be smaller to get thicker bars). lined with waxed or parchment paper. I use a small rectangular Pyrex dish however I have also used a bread pan, cup cake pan and mini brownie pan to make different sized bars.

In a food processor or one shot blender (I use my Magic Bullet for this part because the sunflower seeds are tiny) chop the sunflower seeds and chocolate chips together with the cocoa powder until you have a crumbly mixture. Put this aside.

In a food processor, pulse the dates until they are puréed and form a ball, then add the sunflower seed butter and pulse until mixed. Pour in the seed and chocolate mixture and pulse until all blended together.

Put the mixture into container pressing down and flattening the top. Refrigerate for about an hour. These can be stored in the fridge for about two weeks or out of the fridge for up to 72 hours.