Homemade Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

YUM!! these are so yummy!!

Seriously, too yummy.

I think in the future I am going to see if I can reduce the sugar a bit because these are just dessert with a little protein thrown in.

My husband LOVES Clif Bars.  Truly, I think he is addicted to them, lol.  But he recently discovered that he is really sensitive to soy.  This means Clif Bars and most other protein bars are out.

I went on a mission to find him a new one, but there is so not much available.  I did find these Pure Organic bars, but they only come in two chocolate flavors and are expensive, about $1.50 a bar.  That is a costly habit!

I took a look at the ingredients and they were so simple.  I was pretty sure I could make something similar.

My 1st experiment was a Chocolate Mint flavor (which is his favorite Clif Bar flavor).  Those turned out great and I will probably share that recipe in the future.  But when I took a poll on Facebook more of you were interested in the Chocolate Chip flavor so I got to work on that recipe.

This recipe calls for a few different ingredients like Cashew Flour.  I only used it because it is in the Pure Organic bars and it is available at Trader Joes.  I am pretty sure you could simply use more almond meal or flour with very little change to the recipe.

I also use Brown Rice protein.  I used this because it is a dairy free option and soy free.  You can use your favorite protein powder.  Lastly, I used Enjoy Life mini chocolate chips.  These are gluten, dairy and soy free.  If you don’t use these I do recommend mini chocolate chips.  I think bigger ones may make the bars fall apart a bit.  But if that is all you have you can probably chop them up a bit.

These bars have about 8 grams of protein a piece.  The cost is about $.50 a bar.

Homemade Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

 

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Prep time

20 mins

Total time

20 mins

 

Homemade Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

Author: FrugalLivingMom.com

Recipe type: Snack

Serves: 10

Ingredients

• 1 cup Almond Flour or Meal, lightly packed
• ¾ cup Cashew Flour, light packed (if you don’t have sub in more almond flour or meal)
• ½ cup rolled oats, separated (use Gluten free if needed)
• 6 tablespoons Plain Brown Rice Protein (or other favorite plain protein powder)
• 10 small dates chopped (2 oz)
• ⅛ cup honey
• ½ cup Palm Sugar (if n/a available use ½ cup powdered sugar and ½ tsp molasses)
• ¼ tsp salt
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 tsp water
• 2 tablespoons powdered sugar for rolling (I used organic)
• ¼ cup mini semi sweet chocolate chips
• (optional) 1-2 ounces melted chocolate for drizzling ( I used dark chocolate, but semi sweet would be good, too)

Instructions

1. Prepare a sheet of wax paper on your counter with powdered sugar for rolling
2. Add Almond flour, Cashew flour, ¼ cup oats, protein powder, dates, honey, sugar, salt, vanilla and 1 tablespoon water to food processor.
3. Process on high until mixture comes together as a dough (should only take 1-3 minutes).
4. The dough should feel kind like play dough
5. If too dry and not coming together add 1 extra tsp of water and continue processing
6. Add in ¼ cup reserved rolled oats and pulse to combine.
7. Remove dough from your food processor and dump on prepared wax paper
8. Roll with a rolling pin or press out dough
9. If the dough is warm, allow it to cool for 5 minutes or so (this way the chocolate chips, next step, will not melt)
10. Pour mini chocolate chips over dough and press into dough
11. Fold the dough over it’s self several times in order to distribute the chocolate chips through out the dough
12. Press or roll dough into a 7x7 square on the wax paper (should end up around ¾ inch thick)
13. With a pizza cutter or knife cut into 10 equal sized bars
14. Place on a plate or board and freeze for about 15 minutes
15. Remove from freezer and separate bars
16. (optional) Drizzle with melted chocolate by either using a fork or spoon or by loading the melted chocolate into a Ziploc plastic baggie and snipping a tiny hole in the corner and using it as a piping bag.
17. Return bars to the refrigerator or freezer to harden.
18. Store in an airtight container or bag in the freezer or refrigerator.
19. Should keep in the refrigerator at least a week (probably more) and in the freezer around a month.
20. They will be hard from the freezer or refrigerator and soften up when left at room temperature. I like them hard.

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