Product Review: Pumpkin Pie and Snickerdoodle Lara Bars

I’m always excited when a new flavor of Lara Bars comes out. They are my go to snack (or quick breakfast) especially when I travel (fairly often), so it’s always nice to have something new.

Not all Lara Bars are okay for SCD, but many are, so it’s usually pretty easy to find one that works. I’ve noticed them popping up in convenience stores more and more often, which is nice when I’m on the road. Even the little self-serve mart at my work has them.


Point being – they seem to be catching on, which makes me very happy. It’s rare that a food that fits my special diet is so readily found and enjoyed by people who are not on a special diet.

On to the Snickerdoodle and Pumpkin Pie Lara Bars:

I have not found these in my local stores yet, but the folks over at Lara Bar were kind enough to send me samples in exchange for a fair and honest review.

Snickerdoodle

This bar is SCD friendly – probably! 


UPDATE – I just received an email from LARA Bar – the vanilla is organic and has no sugar. Good news! (updated 11/12/13)

Sorry for not being definitive on that, but these bars contain vanilla extract. I’m pretty sure what

they use does not have sugar, but I just sent them off an email to find out for sure. I didn’t want to wait for an answer before publishing this, since I know some of you might find these in the stores or even order a whole box online – so I wanted to give that warning that these do have vanilla extract, which is an ingredient we have to be careful about.

The other ingredients are fine – dates, cashews, almonds, cinnamon and sea salt.

The taste (yes, I tried one) reminded me a little of the Apple Pie flavor without the raisins, and I could  taste the hint of vanilla. I’m not sure how much they actually reminded me of a Snickerdoodle, then again I don’t remember the last time I ate a real Snickerdoodle cookie. However, I did like the flavor. It was a nice subtle spicy flavor.

Overall verdict is a thumbs up – assuming the vanilla extract is okay. It wasn’t as distinctive of a flavor as I was hoping, but it was good.

Pumpkin Pie

This was the flavor I was most excited to try and it is SCD friendly.

The ingredients are dates, cashews, almonds, dried pumpkin, cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice, cinnamon and ginger.

I liked these bars a lot. The dried pumpkin is not sweetened which offset the sweetness of the dates perfectly. Since the pumpkin is dried it doesn’t have a creamy pie texture, but I really liked the combination of flavors. This is definitely a unique Lara Bar that I hope they keep around, or at least bring out during the fall season.

Overall verdict: Thumbs up on the Pumpkin Pie!

Sherry Lipp

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