Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites

Made with nuts and sweetened with dates, these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites are a healthy and nutritious way to satisfy your sweet tooth!

I've noticed some pretty big pros and cons to breast feeding since Harper was born two weeks ago. The main con is that I can feel lonely feeding Harper by myself every couple of hours. I entertain myself with Chinese review and youtube videos, but after a while that grows old and I wish I could just break free from my confined feeing quarters. Thankfully things are getting faster and more streamline so hopefully this con will dissipate over time. 

The main pro to breast feeding is the intense hunger I feel all day long. I love food and I love to eat and cook, so having a big appetite and fast metabolism is quite a treat for me; especially after the last few months of pregnancy when Harper was squishing my stomach, making it hard to eat normal sized portions. 

I love being to eat my pre-pregnancy-size-portions again and to have room for extra snacks and desserts too. Since I'm up so often feeding Harper in the middle of the night, I often eat a snack around 3 AM to hold me over until breakfast. Initially we bought a lot of Lara Bars to have on hand near my bed and, while they've been great, it's not the cheapest snack. In hopes of saving some money, I finally whipped up these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites and have been loving them as a hearty, chocolatey snack any time of day or night. 

I have quite a few energy bite recipes on my blog already, but many of them use oats as the base. While oats are super nutritious and incredibly cheap, I love that these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites use nuts as the base, because the protein and fats from the nuts help to keep me fuller for longer. 

The other thing I love about these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites is that they have two kinds of chocolate in them. Cacao powder (or cocoa powder) gives the base a chocolate flavor and mini chocolate chips add in some extra richness. You could also use cacao nibs if you wanted a less-sweet version, but I'm all about some rich, chocolatey goodness!

Please let me know if you give these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites a try! Leave a comment down below or take a photo and tag #theconscientiouseater on Instagram so I can see your creation! 

I'd also love to know which Lara Bar flavors are your favorite. I'm thinking I'll be making lots of homemade Lara Bars in the near future. Gotta feed the beast!

📖 Recipe

Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites

Faith VanderMolen

Made with nuts and sweetened with dates, these Homemade Mint Chip Brownie Lara Bar Bites are a healthy and nutritious way to satisfy your sweet tooth!

4.72 from 7 votes

Print Recipe Pin Recipe

Prep Time 20 minutes mins

Total Time 20 minutes mins

Course Snacks

Cuisine American

Servings 15 bites

Calories 172 kcal

Equipment

• Hamilton Beach Food Processor

Ingredients

 

US CustomaryMetric

 

1x2x3x

• 1 cup cashews
• 1 cup walnuts
• 2 cups packed pitted dates about 20 medjool*
• ¼ cup cacao powder
• ⅛ teaspoon sea salt
• ¼-1/2 teaspoon peppermint extract OR 3-4 drops peppermint essential oil
• ¼ cup mini dairy-free chocolate chips

Instructions 

• In a food processor, process the cashews and walnuts until a fine meal forms.
• Add in the pitted dates, cacao powder, sea salt and either peppermint extract or essential oil. I recommend staring with ¼ teaspoon peppermint extract or 3 drops of peppermint essential oil and adding more later if needed.
• Process all of these ingredients until a sticky dough forms. The dough should stick together when you pinch it between your fingers.
• Taste and add more peppermint extract or oil if desired and process again.
• Pour the dough into a large bowl and mix in the mini chocolate chips.
• Roll the dough into balls about 1 ½ inch in diameter and store the balls in an airtight container in the fridge.

Notes

*If you aren't using medjool dates or if your dates aren't really soft and squishy, you will need to soak them in hot water for about 10 minutes until soft. Then drain the water away and continue to use the softened dates.

Nutrition

Serving: 1biteCalories: 172kcalCarbohydrates: 21gProtein: 4gFat: 10gSaturated Fat: 2gPolyunsaturated Fat: 4gMonounsaturated Fat: 3gSodium: 21mgPotassium: 242mgFiber: 3gSugar: 15gVitamin A: 4IUVitamin C: 0.2mgCalcium: 24mgIron: 1mg

Tried this recipe?Let me know how it was!