January 20th...Mel's Homemade Protein Bars!

Alright, alright, I will share my secret recipe for my Homemade Protein Bars...these were so good that when I lived in Vancouver I used to sell these to Esquires Coffee House!  I have spent a long time fine tuning this recipe so that I could get the highest amount of protein with the least amount of sugar.   I thought I had mastered this recipe...BUT I spent some time in the kitchen with Mom today and we switched some items around.  Below are all the items from my orignial recipe, at the end of the Blog I will list what substitutions I made.  Here we go!

 Mix all your wet ingredients in this order except for honey...bananas, egg whites, vanilla, and apple sauce...

 ...slowly add dry ingredients, protein powder, cinnamon, and now add the honey...

 ...the mixture should be thick but still very moist...

 ...MOST IMPORTANT, LINE YOUR 9x13 COOKIE SHEET WITH PARCHMENT PAPER!

 ...spread mixture out evenly, making sure to not leave the corners thin.  Bake at 300 degrees for about 18 mins...

 ...let stand for NO MORE THAN 5 mins. then place a cutting board ontop of the pan, to make a sandwhich with both the board and pan.  Quickly flip over so that the parchment paper side is up and you can peel it off.  Place cooling rack ontop and flip back.  You want to get the parchment paper off quickly and  get the bars on the rack to get rid of the moisture...

 ...once cooled, slide onto cutting board and cut into 12 piceces about 4 inches long and 2.5 wide...pizza cutter works great!

 ...above is, my chocolate-cranberry protein bar and below is the chocolate-coconut bar...

So what were the substitions for this chocolate-coconut protein bar?  I switched apple sauce for pumpkin puree, switched bananas for extra egg whites, and dried cranberries with unsweeten coconut. Below is the nutritional info, both taste great!

Chocolate chip/ cranberry bars: 4 cups large flake Oats, 2 scoopes protein powder, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 2 tbsp vanillia, 1/4 cup egg whites, 2 bananas, 1/2 cup unsweetened apple sauce, 1/4 cup honey(warmed, liquified), 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips and 1/4 dried cranberries...cut up cranberries and chips so that they spread out more, throughout the recipe.

NUTRITIONAL info per bar, 12 pieces: Cal 219. Protein 13g. Fat 2.6g.Carb 38g. Sugar 13g. Fiber 6g.

Chocolate chip/ coconut bars:  4 cups large flake Oats, 2 scoopes protein powder, 1 tbsp cinnamon, 2 tbsp vanilla, 1/2 cup egg whites, 1 cup pumpkin puree, 1/4 cup honey (warmed, to liquified), 2 tbsp dark chocolate chips and 2 tbsp unsweeten coconut.

NUTRITIONAL info per bar, 12 pieces: Cal 185. Protein 13.5g. Fat 2.5g. Carb 30g. Sugar 7.25g. Fiber 3.6g.

The great thing about these bars is that you can use either recipe for a base and add your favorite extras...just remember that dried fruit is high in sugar so cut it up into small pieces. Place dried fruit in freezer til firm as it is easier and less sticky when you cut it. As well, place your chocolate chips in a sealed baggie and crush with a hammer or chop into fine pieces, this way you can use less but they spread throughout the recipe more!