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I’ve been working out a lot more the past month and have been loving these Homemade Vegan Protein bars! I wanted to share the recipe which is slightly adapted from one of the VERY first recipe posts that I ever made on my blog :) I know that you’re going to love these! You should also check out my Vegan Protein Pancakes for more protein filled goodness!
I haven’t talked about it much on Instagram lately but I’ve been doing SUCH a good job working out regularly the past month and it feels SO GOOD! I found a hot yoga studio close to our new house that I really like. I’ve been going regularly to their hot yoga and hot pilates classes and love them both! I’m hoping to add a little more weight training into the mix soon as well.
As a result, I’ve tried to pay closer attention to my protein intake and these protein bars have been SUPER helpful in helping me get extra protein in my diet! BONUS: they’re delicious!
This recipe was developed by a friend that I played roller derby with (did you know that I played roller derby for 6 years!?). Back then I was working out every single day on top of skating a lot of needless to say, we needed a lot of good protein. I asked her to share the recipe with me so here it is.
Over the years of making this, I altered it a little. The original recipe calls for honey which I more often than not swap for maple syrup (which conveniently makes these fully vegan). I also put more or less chocolate on them depending on my mood.
I suggest only adding a thin layer of chocolate to the bottoms of these and then testing them out before adding any to the top. While it would be nice to just completely smother everything in like with chocolate, it’s probably a decent bit of extra sugar and calories that are just overall unnecessary.
PLEASE dear goodness still add at least a *little* chocolate to these. However, feel free to keep it minimal :D
If desired (and this keeps things a little less messy), you could also fold chocolate chips (I find that mini chocolate chips work best here) into the protein dough before pressing it into the pan. Then just omit the melted chocolate coating on the outside.
ALRIGHT. Let’s make this vegan protein bars recipe!
Th beauty of this recipe is that it all comes together right in the base of a food processor. Add all of the ingredients in and pulse until it’s all combined. EASY. If you’re wanting to add in chocolate chips as I mentioned above, now is the time to fold them in.
Take that dough and press it TIGHTLY into a square pan and then chill. DONE.
I like to store these in the fridge and eat them within about a week. I hope that you enjoy it!
Homemade Protein Bars
Ingredients
- ¾ cup of dates, pitted and lightly packed
- 1 cup of natural nut butter, a drippy kind is best
- ½ cup of flax seed meal
- ½ cup of unsweetened coconut flakes
- 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- ¼ cup of coconut oil, melted
- 2 tablespoons of maple syrup or honey
- ½ cup of plant based protein powder
- 3 –6 oz of dark chocolate, this simply depends on how much you want, some for top and some for bottom of bars
Instructions
- Put all of your ingredients (MINUS the chocolate) into a food processor and process until fully combined. You’ll know it’s ready once you can roll the mixture into a ball and it stays together easily. (if needed, you can add more nut butter, maple syrup, or fruit to the mixture to make it stick together)
- Once the mixture is ready, dump it all in a square dish. I used an 8x8 pan.
- Now, this is important: You need to press it ALL in there really good. It needs to be nice and tight and compact in the dish.
- Chill in the refrigerator for about 30 minutes.
- Melt dark chocolate and pour over top.
- Refrigerate for an additional 30 minutes or until the chocolate has fully dried.
- Once the chocolate is fully hardened, cut out your bars (in whatever size you so desire). Getting the first bar out of the pan might be a little messy. However, the rest will come out just fine.
- If desired, drizzle chocolate over top of the other side of the bars, let chocolate harden, and ENJOY!
