coconut cream pie "laraballs"

Back when I was doing my Whole 30, I stumbled into a delicious "dessert" - whole dates with unsweetened coconut. I'd just put a bit of coconut in a bowl, add some dates and...that's it! It was simple, delicious, and while not exactly healthy, it wasn't that bad for you. (That's still a lot of sugar, yo, and the powers-that-be would probably frown on me having any sort of "dessert" at all. But anyway...)

A few days after that, I discovered Larabars. I know, where have I been? Well, to be quite truthful, Larabars are a little out of my normal price range. But, I had a coupon and they are almost all made with Whole 30 compliant ingredients, so I bought a few to take with us on a road trip to Connecticut in case we needed a quick snack in the car. One of the flavors I grabbed was the coconut cream pie flavor and oh my heavens, it was delicious. Very reminiscent of my dates-with-coconut dessert and I knew I needed to figure out how to make it.

Turns out if you Google "homemade larabars" there are a LOT of options out there... Mine isn't groundbreaking in any way, I'm just sharing because I can! The ingredients are simple - dates, unsweetened coconut, almonds, cashews and coconut oil. I formed mine into balls, just because that seemed the easiest. This recipe consistently makes 17 slightly-bigger-than-a-tablespoon balls for me.

coconut cream pie laraballs

• 1/2 c. raw almonds
• 1/2 c. raw cashews
• 1 c. pitted dates (I used 11-12)
• 1 c. unsweetened coconut flakes
• about 2 teaspoons extra virgin coconut oil, slightly melted (Normally I used refined coconut oil for cooking but in this case you do actually want the extra coconut flavor.)

Grind up the almonds and cashews in a food processor until they are crumbly, but not super fine. Set aside in a small bowl. Pulse the dates a few times, then add the coconut and nuts and pulse to combine. Drizzle in the coconut oil and combine. (Feel free to add more coconut oil, if desired.) The mixture will be crumbly but should stick together when formed into balls. I use my tablespoon measure to scoop out lumps of the mixture and form it into a ball. I keep them stored in a glass container with a lid, in the fridge. They will firm up upon cooling.