It was the Garden of Life RAW protein powder, the original flavor. I had never bought it before and I normally buy vanilla flavored ones, but they only had original or chocolate. How bad could original be? Just add a little vanilla extract and I'll be good to go, right? Well, wrong. The lack of flavor combined with the VERY sandy texture just didn't cut it for my smoothies. So, today I re-purposed and put it into this no-bake protein bar.
No-Bake Mint Chocolate Protein Bars
If you make this according to my recipe, it will be vegan and dairy free.
Gather these things:
Dry
- 1 cup pitted dates
- 1 cup almonds (or any nuts)
- 3/4 cup Garden of Life RAW protein powder (or protein powder can go here, but texture and amount of liquid will differ. If you use a whey or egg white protein powder, these will be paleo approved)
- 1/4 cup cocoa powder
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup puffed kamut (any puffed cereal will do, to make it gluten-free, try puffed rice)
Wet
- 1/2 tsp peppermint extract
- 1/4 cup almond milk (if you use a different protein powder, start with 2 Tbsp of milk and add as your mixture blends...this protein powder happens to need a little more liquid)
Directions:
- Line a pan with plastic wrap, I used a 7"x11" pan, but choose based on how many bars you want/how thick you want them.
- Put dates in food processor and blend until they are the size of dried beans.
- Add almonds and blend mixture until finely ground.
- Add all ingredients except puffed cereal. Blend until mixture forms into a sticky ball.
- Dump mixture into a mixing bowl and added puffed cereal. Mix with hands until incorporated.
- Place mixture into pan, put a piece of plastic wrap on top of mixture and press until you have the thickness you want.
- Cut into as many bars as you desire - I did about 20.
- Eat!!
Before and after, poor dates!
Add the almonds to the mix, then blend away.
Dump everything else in. I like super dark chocolate so I used Hershey's special dark cocoa powder. This is actually a really great price - cocoa powder is running about $4 a can and this is only $2.98! And I have amazon prime, so free 2 day shipping for me!
A big, mint chocolate, sticky ball of goodness. High in protein too, my favorite way to start the morning. Hah.
Add your puffed cereal of choice once your batter has formed. I definitely underestimated the thickness of the batter...it broke my spatula. Hence why you should mix with your hands, I learned the hard way for y'all. You're welcome.
Next time I will probably leave out the puffed cereal - it didn't add much to bar and it went stale/soft fairly fast. I'm thinking cacao nibs, or a chopped nut of some kind will hold up better next time.
Then roll them out to the thickness you want. I wanted mine to be around 80 calories so I could eat it with my coffee before I workout in the morning. I don't love eating before my workouts in the early AM, but I have been lifting in the morning (rather than cardio, since I have weights in my house and no treadmill), and I have found I need just a little something so I can make it through.
Cut to desired size and package up for the week! I'm keeping mine in the freezer because there's something so satisfying about a cold, mint chocolate treat. It's almost like ice cream! Ok not really, but if you close your eyes, the flavors are there.
Serves people
| Ingredients | Calories | Carbs | Fat | Protein | Sodium | Sugar | |
| Sun Maid - Dried Pitted Dates, 1 Cup (40g) | 440 | 120 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 84 | |
| Garden of Life - Beyond Organic Raw Protein Powder - Vanilla, 4.5 scoop (23 g = scoop) | 405 | 5 | 0 | 77 | 0 | 0 | |
| Trader Joes Nuts - Almonds Raw (W/ Potassium), 1 cup | 640 | 24 | 56 | 24 | 0 | 4 | |
| Hershey's - Cocoa Special Dark Powder, 25 g (1 Tbsp) | 50 | 15 | 3 | 5 | 325 | 0 | |
| Trader Joes - Almond Milk Vanilla Unsweetened, 0.35 cup | 14 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 63 | 0 | |
| Arrowhead Mills - Organic Puffed Kamut Cereal, 0.5 cup (15g) | 25 | 6 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | |
| Total: | 1,574 | 171 | 60 | 112 | 388 | 88 | |
| Per Serving: | 79 | 9 | 3 | 6 | 19 | 4 |
80 calories, 9g carbs, 6g protein, 3g fat - my ideal ratios for a pre-workout snack! What's your favorite pre-workout snack?
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