Blueberry Muffin Larabars

Last night, when I was doing some recipe surfing, I came across a recipe for Blueberry Muffin Larabars.  I tried dried blueberries about six months ago, and was SO pleasantly surprised to find them delicious!  Something in the combination of dried blueberries, lemon zest, and vanilla (plus the normal nuts and dates) just sounded so appealing.  Mom purchased some dried blueberries while she was out today, so I was able to make some bars!

I LOVED the Blueberry Muffin bars.  In the post where I saw the original recipe, the author said that they tasted just like blueberry muffins.  I was a little skeptical, but now I would have to agree.  I would say that they taste good, but the very blueberry muffin flavor comes more as an aftertaste.  It was great!  I would have to admit that I like them even more than the chocolate Larabars I made.  I know, I know.  I was surprised, too. But they were awesome!

Blueberry Muffin Larabars – Makes 4 bars

Zest from one lemon
1 c. pitted dates
1/2 c. almonds
1/2 c. walnuts
1/3 c. (really, one handful) dried blueberries
Sprinkle of salt (optional)
1 Tbsp. vanilla

Place the lemon zest into a food processor (I zested my lemon right into the food processor).

The dates…

…and the nuts (I measure my nuts in a one cup measuring cup, filling it approximately halfway with one type of nut, then topping it off with the other type).

Now throw in the blueberries. (I know my hand looks contorted.  I wasn’t in pain or anything.  Not sure why that happened.)

Everything in the processor! (Add the salt now, if using.  I forgot and added mine much later.)  Now you want to close it up and start chopping (this will take a few minutes and be a little noisy).

You want to add the vanilla while the processor is running.  Now you’ll see from this shot that I had a little trouble with this.  I was too busy thinking about the picture and what exposure and blah blah blah when suddenly I thought ,
“Hey, that vanilla looks like it isn’t going into the food processor.”
It wasn’t.  It was pouring down the outside.  Oops.  So I stopped and cleaned up a vanilla spill.

Once I got everything all cleaned up, I started the food processor again, and added about a tablespoon of vanilla.

Now it should look something like this.

It may seem like it doesn’t want to come together, but if you squeeze and knead it, it will stick together.

One big bar.  🙂  I divided it into fourths and formed each fourth into a regular sized bar.

Now it is time to wrap the bars.  I wrap them individually in plastic wrap.  This is how I do it.  Place the bar in the middle of a smallish rectangle of wrap (about 5 inches wide).

Fold over one side..

.. and then the other (they don’t necessarily have to meet).

Open one end like this..

…fold it over the bar…

…and wrap it underneath.

Repeat with other side.

The bars from this batch.

Labels can be nice, especially if you have more than one kind of Larabar in the fridge.