Review by Gary Whitehouse: I had a snappy opening line all prepared for this review (“Move over, Trader Joe’s ‘These Peanuts Go On A Date’ Bars”) but it turns out I’m too late. As usual. First, there have been lengthy discussions on various forums and blogs for quite some time in which these two items were compared; and second, TJ’s bar has been discontinued as of late 2022.
I was never a massive fan of TJ’s bar, but I tended to buy a few boxes of them per year. I like having bar-type snacks around to take on a hike or a short road trip or just for those mornings when breakfast was a little early or small. Relatively low sodium is a must for me, and Joe’s bars typically are much better in this regard than your average protein, granola or trail mix bars – I’m a fan of the peach and pumpkin seasonals, of which I usually get two or three boxes when they come around in summer and fall. The peanut-date bars were a good occasional addition to the lineup. I’m not a big date eater, but the addition of peanuts to these mellowed the flavor somewhat. My one objection was that they tended to make your fingers sticky, which other reviewers noted as well.
I like the taste of this Lärabar offering better than Trader Joe’s. The semi-sweet chocolate mitigates dates’ cloying tendency with a little cocoa tartness, which is enhanced by the dates’ slightly tart finish. The use of maple syrup also gives a nice earthy touch that is sweet but not too sweet. The nuts (peanuts and cashews) are ground pretty finely, which makes the mouth feel more grainy than I prefer, but overall the experience is pleasant. And they’re less sticky than TJ’s now defunct product, unless they get too warm in the package. So keep these cool. Some reviewers prefer them refrigerated, but I wouldn’t go that far, as to me that dulls the flavors.
The bar’s name is a typical bit of over-inflation. First, not everything with dark chocolate in it is a truffle. Truffles by definition are a candy with a ganache center. You can’t just coat an apple in dark chocolate and call it an apple pie truffle. Second, “caramel?” Caramel is “sugar or syrup heated until it turns brown” used as a sweetener or coloring agent in foods. Maple syrup is already brown, and these bars are already sweet from the dates and dark from the dark chocolate. So calling this thing a chocolate caramel truffle won’t fool anybody who knows or cares anything about food, and may actually be misleading. Plus the name doesn’t even mention dates, which are the main ingredient.
Nutritionally, as compared to TJ’s there are some tradeoffs. The Lärabar has higher fat content, more calories, and twice the sodium; but more fiber and the same amount of protein.
Points subtracted for the name and some nutrition facts, noted. Otherwise, these are pretty good with coffee or milky black tea. But the fact that they’re chocolate knocks them off of my “snack” list. I love chocolate, but to me it is candy or dessert. I don’t want chocolate in a mid-morning pick-me-up. Sweet (as opposed to savory) snack items containing grains, fruit and nuts but no chocolate are getting harder to find. And if I’m looking for a chocolate treat, I probably won’t look to these bars with 210 calories, 9 fat grams, and 130 mg of sodium as a morning snack, either.
Lärabar’s Chocolate Peanut Caramel Truffle Bars (or rather, chocolate date nut bars) taste fine, but they’re probably not going in my shopping cart.
Gary Whitehouse (he, him), a lifelong resident of the U.S. Pacific Northwest, is a retired reporter, editor, and government communicator. He’s also a lifelong lover of books and music, which he has been writing about online for nearly a quarter of a century. His other passions include birding, standard poodles, chocolate, coffee, and craft ales.
