Larabar says: Just like mom’s… satisfying as well as nourishing. Spiced with cinnamon and paired with juicy raisins, the apples deliver 3 grams of natural fiber. Almonds contribute Vitamin E and protein while the dates add 14 essential vitamins and minerals. Omega 3 and 6 essential fatty acids come from the walnuts. With all this goodness occurring naturally, you can eat Apple Pie every day!

Abi says: After a disturbing experience with the Cashew “Cookie” Larabar I’ve decided to stay away from mild/nut-based options & stick to strong flavors in my Larabar purchases.

Looks like a homemade energy bar. This Larabar exhibits recognizable chunks of fruit and nut. I like being able to tell exactly what’s in the bar. Or at least that there are a lot of things in the bar and not just a paste made from who knows what.

Smells like apple pie that somebody made with a recipe from Cooking Light. Not exactly that homemade apple pie smell. More like the sort of apple pie smell you get what you make a recipe titled Vegan Cinnamon Apple Pie Bars. Because that’s what this is.

Feels like a bunch of mush. Even with the nuts and the somewhat large chunks of ingredients, this bar is not a textural wonderland. I don’t even like eating bites from this bar. Instead, I break off little bits and form them into balls of apple-pie-energy and then pop them into my mouth. Yes, I play with my food.

Tastes like a healthy version of apple pie that doesn’t involve crust or gluten. This apple chunks and healthy dose of cinnamon really shine and I don’t mind so much that I’m also eating dates and raisins.

So far this is my favorite Larabar. I’m also one of the lucky people who is surrounded by multiple Trader Joe’s, meaning I can try all of these bars for just $1.19. For those of you unfortunately distant from a Trader Joe’s, you can buy these on Amazon.com for just $18.79 per 16-pack. Plus the $7.00 shipping, which seemed like a great deal until gas prices dropped by half overnight.

Ingredients: Dates, Walnuts, Unsweetened Apples, Almonds, Raisins, Cinnamon

Luna Bar says: A delicious cookie crunch with rich flavors of sweet, creamy peanut butter

Abi says: I need to stop buying energy bars that have ‘cookie’ in their names. They do not look like cookies or taste like cookies or even smell like cookies.

I can forgive the first issue. Luna energy bars are bars, thus the bar shape. They’re also coated in what appears to be a peanut buttery icing. Instead, it is an evil trap of sugar (er, evaporated cane juice) oil, soy flour and vanilla. Because peanut butter cookies come with icing? What? This bar contains more of that coating than actual peanut butter!

I buy peanut butter energy bars because the flavor of peanut butter is so rich and overwhelming that it can kill people:

Peanut Allergy Sign by Dan4th

But the peanut note is in not way strong in this bar. I’d say it is merely subtly peanutty. And instead of that marvelous legume we have a whole different taste/smell issue. LunaPro, the grain-based, protein-rich foundation for this bar. LunaPro is the ingredient that assaults the senses and says ‘This is fake! This is not a cookie! This is not a granola bar! This is not going to taste good!’. And I have to go with my taste buds on this one: the peanut butter cookie bar is an item to be avoided.

Ingredients: LunaPro (Soy Rice Crisp [Soy Protein isolate, Organic Rice Flour], Organic Toasted oats, Organic Roasted Soybeans, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Flaxmeal), Organic Brown Rice Syrup, Organic Coating (Organic Evaporated Cane Juice, Organic Palm Kernel Oil, Organic Soy Flour, Organic Soy Lecithin, Organic Vanilla), Organic Peanut Butter, Inulin (Chicory Extracat), Vegetable Glycerin, Natural Flavors, Organic Roasted Peanuts, Peanut Flour, Sea Salt.

SonomaCrisps says: Natural and Baked Slowly Cooked Crunchy Apple

Abi says: I’m a sucker for these baked fruit snacks. They’re stupidly expensive and yet I cannot stop eating them. I could get an ounce of caviar for less than this! Okay, maybe not an ounce of caviar, but certainly an ounce of other things.

Like chocolate.

Each crisp is like an old, under-developed french fry. You know – the ones that you find under the car seat when you decide to undertake that once-yearly vehicle vacuuming session. Yes, these fries crisps aren’t rock-hard and gross. They’re dry and crunchy, but not scary-dry, suck-all-the-spit-from-your-mouth dry like the . The cinnamon adds a bit of spice without overpowering the sweetness of the apple. If you’re rich and you really, really want to eat a bag of Cool Ranch Doritos, but you’re also on a diet, give these crispy apple straws a try.

Lara says: Two ingredients, one incredible flavor! The unprocessed, creamy cashews are rich in iron, zinc and B Vitamins. The chewy dates have more potassium than bananas. Together they form a bar rich in fiber with 2 grams of heart-healthy Omega-6 fatty acids and 15 essential vitamins and minerals. So much sustaining nourishment in such a simple recipe.

Abi says: The energy bar section of Trader Joe’s is always good for an interesting snack or two. Tired of searching for the elusive Fiberful Bar and refusing to toss half a package of Fiberful ends and pieces, I decided to take a chance on the Larabar.

After scanning the shelves and seeing the words “Cashew” and “Cookie” I knew I’d found my perfect energy bar match.

Or had I?

Initially looks were promising: the bar was studded with cashew pieces and featured a distinctly cookie-like appearance and texture. Mmmmm, cookies. But looks aren’t everything. I’d learned that lesson the hard way in Italy, realizing that while Italian bakers made some pretty incredible tarts, they uniformly sucked at producing delicious cookies.

But this isn’t a cookie, it is a energy bar masquerading under the name ‘cookie’. I’m used to it by now, the bars with ‘cookie’ and ‘pie’ in the names. I’m just waiting for Belgian Waffle and New York Cheesecake flavored bars. They probably already make those flavors and carry them at my local GNC alongside enormous tubs of what amount to legal steroids. And I avoid GNC like the plague.

SnackLounge.com isn’t about body building or poorly informed supplement salesmen. Rather, we are all about helping you avoid about an energy bar that tastes like an old brown couch. You know, one of those dismal ones in a Craigslist ad that is updated every day for two weeks before the owner realizes that nobody is going to buy that couch and finally it appears in the free section.

My mouth was not happy. First, this bar contains only dates and cashews. While I like those things and understand that they can be part of a delicious and healthy energy bar, on their own they DO NOT EQUAL CASHEW COOKIE. In fact, they’re sort of like those no-bake cookies that you make once in awhile because you forget that they’re just not that great. Yeah, like that but with even less flavor. I suppose that if the folks at Larabar added a dash of salt and a drop of vanilla to this snack then it would finally approach flavorful cookiedom. Until then, we’re sticking with Clif Chocolate Chip Cookie ZBars when we want an actual, cookie-like energy bar.

P.S. We have since then tried a couple of other LARABARs that are tasty and delicious (and not boring, like this one) and we’ll report on those in November.