Saturday, June 26, 2010

Nourishing Protein Bars 1.0



I've been looking for a nourishing protein bar recipe for a while now. Most versions out there seem to be loaded with sugar, grain-based, or have other questionable ingredients. My search ended when I found this recipe!

I cannot say enough about these bars, or eat enough of them! They are quite tasty. My mom and dad tried them also and deemed them delicious. I will definitely be making these again and again and again. My mom and I have actually caught each other going back for seconds on these bars when we've already had a big enough sample. They are that good! And I usually have great amounts of self control.

I have a friend who recently asked me about finding an easy breakfast option for her on early morning trips to the hospital for clinicals, since she is a nursing student. These are a perfect option for her and others like her who are constantly on the go! They are easy to make up and you can save the whole batch in the fridge, just cut and eat as needed! They can easily be frozen as well. For easy packaging, cut up into squares and place in snack baggies or plastic wrap.


Nourishing Protein Bars
    adapted from Passionate homemaking

    2 cups  raw almonds
    1/4 cup  ground golden flaxseed
    1/2 cup  pitted dates
    1/2 cup  organic unsweetened coconut flakes
    1/2 cup  organic raw almond butter
    1/2 tsp  unrefined sea salt
    1/2 cup  organic coconut oil, melted
    1-2 Tbsp  organic maple syrup
    2-3 tsp  vanilla
    1 handful 100% baking chips, or 3-4 unsweetened chocolate baking squares, melted
    6 drops  vanilla creme liquid stevia (optional)

To make your bars:
  1.  Place almonds, flaxseed, dates, coconut, almond butter and salt in a food processor. Pulse to combine.
  2.  In a small sauce pan, melt coconut oil using LOW heat. Remove from heat and add vanilla and maple syrup.
  3.  Add melted oil mixture to the food processor and pulse/grind ingredients until it forms a coarse paste.
  4.  Scoop out the mixture and press into an 8x8 pan. Chill in the fridge for an hour or until hard.
  5.  While the mixture is in the fridge, melt chocolate in a double boiler, add stevia when finally melted. Remove pan from the fridge and pour chocolate mixture on top. Smooth out and pop back into the fridge. Cut and serve when chocolate is hardened.

I suggest keeping this in the fridge or the chocolate might melt in the summer heat!

Enjoy!

7 comments:

kelsey said...

These are SO good! I made half a batch following your recipe and with the other half I added a small banana and it was really tasty too :)
Thank you for this recipe, I will definitely be making it often!

Anonymous said...

Thanks for the comments! Those bars look awesome, and would be a great alternative to buying Luna Bars (they remind me of the Nutz of Chocolate) and they probably taste better too!

Stacie @ Imperfectly Healthy said...

These look really good! Great idea!

Megan said...

Oh my goodness, these looks fantastic! These will be going on my to-make list this weekend!

Thanks so much for stopping by my blog. Looks like I will be visiting yours quite often :)

Megan said...

I made these this weekend and everyone RAVED about them! They are so good!

Kelsey said...

These look very similar to a recipe I use - but they have lots more coconut oil in them - does that make them melt pretty easily once they're out of the fridge?

Meagan said...

@ Kelsey - Nope :) these stay together fairly well after coming out of the fridge. The chocolate might melt in hot weather and humid climates, but the base of the bar is not melty at all from the coconut oil :) Thanks for commenting!