Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Larabars

Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Larabars what?!!?

I thought I was a Larabar superfan but I was completely blindsided by the presence of this little guy at my local Whole Foods on Monday:

Where did this come from? I couldn't find a single mention of this new flavor on Larabar's website, nor on their Facebook page. All I could come up with were a few random blog hits mentioning the new bar.

Larabar, I thought we had something special. YOU WERE MY FIRST BLOG POST! But apparently you don't care and you go out with new flavors without any regard for my feelings.

Anyway, let's talk about the Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte flavor.

I love chocolate in any form, but I generally eschew cherries outside of their fresh and raw state. Even not being a huge cherry fan, I really enjoyed the new Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte Larabar. The cherry flavor isn't nearly as intense as the Cherry Pie Larabar, and the addition of cashews and almonds into the mix makes it taste like a decadent dessert. Oh, and the chocolate chips were fantastic, of course.

And the nutritionals:

Apparently, along with the arrival of the Chocolate Chip Cherry Torte flavor comes the retirement of the Cinnamon Roll flavor. I can't say I'm too upset about that, as the Cinnamon Roll flavor was one of my very least favorites and was always difficult to find, presumably because no one was too interested in buying it. Larabar keeps coming out with better and better flavors (hello Blueberry Muffin) and it only makes sense that they throw out some of the dead weight along the way.


Website:
http://www.larabar.com

Blueberry Muffin Larabar

FINALLY.  Blueberry Muffin Larabars debuted months ago, and I haven't been able to track one down until last Friday. 

Believe me, my inability to get my hands on one of these bars was not for lack of trying.  I searched everywhere.  Only one place - my local Whole Foods -seemed to carry them, but they were constantly sold out.  I did have one close encounter there, when I witnessed a frantic-yet-elated woman grab the only remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars on the shelf, before scurrying away like a squirrel with the last acorns of the season.  I had missed my Blueberry Muffin opportunity by a few devastating seconds.

That was weeks ago, and I thought maybe it just wasn't going to happen for me.  But last week I was in the right place at the right time. It was my turn to be that frantic woman buying all the remaining Blueberry Muffin Larabars at Whole Foods.

The verdict? Absolutely worth the wait. They are perfect.  The duplication of blueberry muffin taste with so few all-natural ingredients is impressive. They're more moist than most Larabars, and slightly lower in calories (only 190 instead of 200-230).  They also contain a couple ingredients not normally included in Larabars: lemon juice concentrate, which adds a slight tartness, and vanilla, which makes them taste like a home-baked good.

See my updated Larabar review and rankings.  Blueberry Muffin is now #1 of the "non-chocolate-chip" Larabar flavors.

Website:
http://www.larabar.com/

Larabars

I remember sometime around 2004 when a friend announced to me that she'd just stumbled upon a great new line of (energy? nutrition? not-granola? not-protein?) bars, made here in Colorado and with only a few ingredients - all raw - in each bar. I was skeptical.  Where was the high fructose corn syrup sweetened "granola" filling, and the chocolately coating made of fractionated palm kernel oil?  

At that time, I was not interested.  However, as I've moved toward eating minimally processed foods, Lara and I have formed a special bond.  I eat these tasty, portable, mostly-date-plus-nuts-and-other-fruit bars about two or three times a week.

Late last year, Larabar debuted new flavors containing chocolate chips in their standard fruit-and-nut backbone. I was a little horrified; the inclusion of added sugar in their bars seemed like a reckless departure from their all-raw, all-vegan roots.  But who am I kidding? I love chocolate chunks in anything I eat.  In fact, I love them so much, that my reviews below have the chocolate chip flavors in a completely separate category. I can't compare apples to chocolate chip cookie dough!

Below, a ranking of all 16 current flavors of "non-chocolate-chippy" Larabars in the order I love them, with my two cents thrown on for many of them:

Note - List was edited April 3, 2011 to include Blueberry Muffin flavor

#1: Blueberry Muffin - See my review of this flavor.
#2: Peanut Butter Cookie - Seriously does (ok, in a peanuts-in-a-date-matrix sort of way) taste like a peanut butter cookie.  And I love peanut butter.
#3: Cashew Cookie - Has anyone ever heard of a cashew cookie? I haven't.  But these are delicious.
#4: Banana Bread - I could eat banana bread by the loaf.  Or by the sack full.  Or by the wheelbarrow full.  But in the absense of a wheelbarrow full of actual banana bread, these are a great substitute.
#5:  Chocolate Coconut Chew
#6: Lemon Bar
#7: Peanut Butter & Jelly - As you can tell from above, I love peanut butter. But I'm actually not a huge cherry fan (cherry is the "jelly" in these bars).
#8: Key Lime Pie - My husband is a huge (real) key lime pie fan, and he loves these
#9 Carrot Cake - I had really, really high hopes for these bars.  But they've let me down a bit. Too much "tropical fruit tart" taste and not enough carrot cake-y ness.
#10: Pecan Pie
#11 : Tropical Fruit Tart
#12: Coconut Cream Pie
#13: Apple Pie
#14: Ginger Snap - WOA this is some strong ginger snap flavor.  Not bad but very intense.  I can only get excited about these once in a while
#15 Cinnamon Roll
#16: Cherry Pie - Really just personal preference that this one is dead last, but I'm not a huge cherry fan. (In Cherry Pie's defense, my husband loves them and was outraged over my negative review).

And the chocolate chip flavors:
#1: Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough - WHO KNEW DATES + CASHEWS + SALT = COOKIE DOUGH? Genius. Tastes shockingly similar to the real deal.
#2: Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip - Reese's Peanut Butter Cup fused with dates and mutated into Lara form. What's not to like?
#3: Chocolate Chip Brownie - Very strong cocoa taste in the matrix. Wasn't too crazy about these at first but they've grown on me.

Website:
http://www.larabar.com/