You can feel good giving your kids, these gooey, minty, chocolatey treats before noon! In fact, you’ll be giving them lots of great fiber, B-vitamins, and several key minerals! Free of sugar, butter, shortening, vegetable oil, or any of the many chemicals found in packaged treats!
Skinny-Mints (Girl Scout Thin Mint Laraballs)
In a food processor, combine ½ c pistachios, ¾ c pitted dates, 1/8 c unsweetened cocoa, 1-2 tsp peppermint extract, and 1 tsp vanilla. Blend until mixture begins to clump, simply shape into balls and enjoy this delight! Yum!
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Read on for more information about these yummy treats! They are similar in texture and consistency, and perhaps even more moist than Larabars. Larabars have a super-SHORT ingredient list and can always be available on the go! There are nearly 20 amazing favors. They are however (only shortcoming) expensive.
Really, for what you get, such nutrient-dense (tons of vitamins, minerals, and fiber, and some "good" fat) product, the price isn't too bad, but looking at an individual bar, it's around a dollar when you "subscribe and save" on amazon.com, around $1.29 at Trader Joe's (cheapest at a store you can walk into), and more than that at any other store that I have seen.
It's fun to use the www.larabar.com website to make your own! Click on any of the flavors to see all ingredients. They list ingredients with pictures, as in cashew cookie: a picture of a cashew and a date. If you have a variety of nuts, plenty of dates, cocoa, some spices, and some different types of dried fruit, you can quickly make a batch of any flavor you choose!
For a consistency that will clump together nicely, you want around 1/2 c nuts (one type or a combination) and 1/2 c or so of dried fruit (such as dates). All ingredients can be blended at once. I small food chopper (like for baby food or chopping onions) works well. I have a Cuisinart 4-cup chopper/grinder that works perfectly! It is also easy to clean -- added bonus! It's small, so I can keep it on my counter, thus using it more than if I had to pull it out every time I wanted to use it!
Blend, blend, blend! As I said above, when you blend it long enough, it will begin to clump together. Now you can put the whole mixture into a sandwich bag, and have fun shaping! Your hands will stay clean (I don't like "food hands")! You can make balls out of the mixture -- it's like playing with play-dough! Then keep them in that bag -- the oils that remain will keep your treats moist -- though they might not have much time to dry out (too yummy!)!
WHAT DO YOU THINK? TELL ME IN A COMMENT BELOW: What flavor does your tummy's imagination want? Maybe I can come up with something you'll enjoy! You can also leave a comment about how your experience went when you tried making these "Larabar Balls". Have a great day!
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5 comments:
These are so yummy and healthy, and my kids loved helping to make them and eat them! I cannot wait to try some of the other Laraball recipes! Thank you for this recipe!!
Thanks so much for trying and enjoying Skinny Mint Laraballs! I hope you enjoy the other flavors :) Have a great day!
Thank you so much for your healthy ideas! My sister got me hooked on her homemade Larabars and your site. I have made these and your brownie bites. Both are huge hits in our house. We're even getting our friends hooked on both recipes so far. Can't wait to keep trying more recipes. It's amazing how just one or two bites can satisfy and satiate my sweet tooth!
Thank you SO much, Julie!! Your comments make me smile from ear to ear! Thanks for sharing and I hope you keep enjoying :)
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