They're back!!!! You've seen them, those cute little girls standing on every corner taunting you with their scrumptious cookies. Their troop mother standing at the ready to make change for them and to give you a disapproving glance if you ever so politely turn them down. Here's the thing...I HATE telling those cute little hard working girls no, but I have too because I have a little fruit bandit that will never understand why I am buying cookies that he can't eat. Our pre-gluten free personal faves were Thin Mints, Samoas, and Tagalongs. YUM! Believe me when I say that I am positive that over the course of previous years I have purchased enough of those cookies to fund an overseas trip for a troop or two should they have the desire to take one.
In the defense of the Girl Scouts, I realize that they have created a gluten free chocolate chip cookie this year and a really great friend of ours even gave us a bag of them to try. Go Girl Scouts for trying, but in my families humble opinion they are crumbly, chalky sad little cookies that I just can't bring myself to spend money on; no matter how cute the little faces are.
This year I decided that instead of moping my way through Girl Scout cookie season I would create homemade healthy treats for my family inspired by them instead. First up I am turning those delicious little thin mint cookies into a homemade Lära bar that will knock your socks off! It's minty, chocolaty, and has nice little crunch from dark chocolate morsels and raw almonds. Check out my How To Make Homemade Lära Bites & Bars post for a picture tutorial of how easy it is to make these bars. At least now I don't feel bad about eating cookies for breakfast!
What was your favorite Girl Scout cookie flavor before going gluten free?
PrintThin Mint Lära Bars (Gluten Free, Vegan, Raw)
Ingredients
- 1 cup pitted and chopped Medjool dates
- ½ cup raw almonds
- ½ cup gluten free oats
- 2 tablespoons cocoa powder
- ½ tablespoon coconut oil, in solid state
- ½ teaspoon gluten free peppermint extract
- ½ cup dark chocolate chips
Instructions
- Combine the dates, almonds, and oats in the bowl of a food processor fitted with the “S” blade. Process for about 1-2 minutes until all of the ingredients come together like a dough and are similar in size with no large chunks remaining. Add the cocoa powder, coconut oil, and mint extract then process to incorporate.
- Add the dark chocolate morsels to the processor and pulse until just incorporated; not so much that the morsels loose their chunkiness in the mixture.
- For Bars: Transfer the dough to a small sheet pan or plate lined with parchment paper and shape the dough with your hands into a rectangle. Slice the dough into bars and serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
- For Bites: Scoop the mixture into tablespoon size portions and roll each one in the palm of your hand to form a sphere serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
- For molded shapes: Fill silicone molds in the desired shape with the dough; pressing the dough into any corners. Refrigerate for 15-20 minutes to set then gently remove the shapes from the pan serve immediately or store in the refrigerator until ready to eat.
Ellen says
will this recipe work without the coconut oil? I am trying to eliminate oil from my diet. Thanks!
thismess says
unfortunately I have never tried it without the oil... you may be able to add a bit of water to the mix to get the dates to stick together. Let m know if you give it a try.
Crystal Dristiliaris says
I saw the mint chocolate larabars at the store and new I could make them myself! I was happy to come across your recipe and I made these and they came out great. Even my picky 4 year old approved. He's an MCC lover like me. Thanks for the great recipe! I shared it with friends. <3
★★★★★
Meg says
Yay Crystal! I am so glad that you and your 4 year old loved these. My son is 4 too and he goes crazy for them, thanks for reminding me to make them again soon 🙂
Jessica says
These look gorgeous but gluten free oats are a no-go for us. My Coeliac husband won't touch them and they are near-nigh impossible to find in Australia. Is there anything that you can suggest that I can substitute for them? Chocolate Mint is my very favourite combination!
Thanks!!
Meg says
I would just eliminate them completely and increase the almonds by 1/4 cup. That would be my first bet.:) Let me know how it turns out!
Sam says
Hi, newbie to your website here.
I'm horribly allergic to coconut, do you know of any substitute that won't drastically change the end product? These look positively scrumptious...
★★★★★
Meg says
Hi Sam!! So glad to have you here. 🙂 Ok, so if I were you I would simply omit the coconut oil and proceed with the recipe. I use the coconut oil as a binder more than anything else, but since dates are pretty sticky anyways you could probably get away with just processing the ingredients a little longer. If the "dough" is not coming together after processing a little longer try adding a tablespoon of ice water to the food processor and go from there. You really want to be able to pick up some of the dough., squeeze it in your hand, and it keep the shape. Let me know how it works out for you!
Michele Marie says
I found and made this recipe tonight. It smells amazing! I can't wait to have one for breakfast!
Meg says
Yay!!! I hope you love them as much as we do!
Cara's Healthy Cravings says
I love the simple ingredient list! I can only imagine the tasty result it will produce. I have pinned the recipe and will hopefully make a batch on the weekend.
Meg says
Thanks Cara! I hope you like them as much as we do. I have made 3 batches of them in the last week...does that cancel out how healthy they are? Ha!
Lydia says
These looks absolutely scrumptious, thanks so much for sharing!! Do you think it's possible to omit the oats? I can't digest any grains at all, and these look too delicious to miss!!
Meg says
Lydia, absolutely! You can increase the amount of almonds if you like too to replace the oats.
Lydia says
Hooray! Thanks so much Meg, I can't wait to enjoy these!
Meg says
Yay Lydia! Let me know how they turn out:)
Brittany says
I've tried baking/cooking with peppermint extract before and didn't realize how powerful it is. Phew! A little goes a long way. Anyhow, these bars look awesome and I'll be pinning and trying them.
And, I'm with you on the Girl Scout cookies! I made my own version of homemade Samoas (similar to these bars but in ball form). They're sooo much better!
Meg says
Hey Brittany!!
Yes peppermint extract is definitely one of those ingredients where a little goes a long way. Ha! I will have to try your Samoas recipe, I am working on a rendition of Samoas myself but a frozen treat because that is how I always liked the cookies the best.I hope you like these when you try them:)
Sylvie | Gourmande in the Kitchen says
Oh gosh I used to keep a sleeve of thin mints in the freezer and munch on them cold, I remember they were so good like that. Looks like I'm not the only one who used to eat them that way either.
The Peace Patch says
Thin Mints were one of my favorites, but only if they were frozen. Your recipe looks doubledelicious! I love the idea of using silicone molds...I think my little nephew would get a kick if we made them in baseball molds to he could take them as "power balls" to his Tball practices. Thanks for the recipe...cheers!
Meg says
Thank you. 🙂 Little baseball lara bars would be SO cute!!! I make stars for my daughter and the little chunky squares for Kash since they are easy for him to hold in his toddler sized hands.
Katrina @ Warm Vanilla Sugar says
These bars look freaking unreal! Love the recipe!
Meg says
Thanks Katrina!
Ashley Rae says
Hey-o!
Wanted to reccomemd a similar bar to Lara bars....its called 'Kit's Organic Fruit & Nut'bars...made by Cliff bar. ( she is actually co-owner I guess!) Same ingredients as Lara, but I prefer the texture and overall consistency. 6/7 varieties, but the Chocolate Almond is a MUST try.
Sprouts, Whole Foods, etc sells them.
Cheers!
Meg says
Thanks Ashley, I will have to check those out!
Dixya @ Food, Pleasure, and Health says
i love thin mints..and its so hard to say NO to them..thanks for sharing this healthy versions,
Meg says
Dixya, I loved them too. It was a sad break up full of bitter feelings on my end! So glad to share my healthy alternative with you:)
Lisa says
I love you for saying "crumbly, chalky sad little cookies." I'm off to the kitchen to make these because not only are they good for us... THEY'LL TASTE GOOD! 🙂 Score!
Meg says
Haha! Well Lisa, I had to tell the truth about those little cookies. I was pretty bummed too. I REALLY wanted them to be good. I hope you like these bars for sure:)