Cocoa Fudgy Protein Bars

This is a combination of half a dozen different recipes I found on the web, just mixing together the quantity of ingredients that felt right, and that gave the right kind of nutritional value.  It kind of took me back to my childhood, making mud pies in the garden :)

You really would not know that the recipe contains beans.  The finished result is quite soft and fudgy.  I used cannellini beans, but any bean would be ok.




Nutrition Info per bar (makes 10)
Calories: 169
Protein: 6g
Carbohydrate: 26g
Fat: 5g
Dietary Fibre: 6g


Ingredients
1 x 400g tin cannellini beans, drained
50g oats
20g hemp powder
20g cocoa powder
50g unsweetened desiccated coconut
200g light soya milk
200g dried soft figs
1 heaped teaspoon molasses (20g)
30g granulated xylitol


Method

• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• Put the beans in a large bowl and crush thoroughly with the back of a fork.  
• Stir in the oats, hemp powder. cocoa powder, coconut and xylitol.
• Put the figs and milk in a blender and blend until finely chopped.
• Stir into the dried mixture, along with the molasses.
• Pour into a greased 20cm non-stick square metal baking tin, and smooth.
• Bake for 25 mins.
• Remove from the oven and cut into 10 bars, leaving in the tin.  It will be firm on top, but of a squidgy consistency.  Cool in the tray on a wire rack, and then refrigerate for a couple of hours.
• Wrap individually in foil and store in the refrigerator.

Savoury Parmesan and Marmite Protein Bars

In the UK, you can't buy savoury protein bars, so I've been thinking about this for some time.  Sweet protein bars tend to use dried fruit as the 'glue', so I had to google for ideas as to what 'glue' to use for these savoury bars.  Quinoa seemed to be used quite a bit, which is of course also high in protein, so perfect here.

These do dry out quite well in the oven and become fairly crispy on the outside, which was the texture I was going for.

I think next time, I shall actually cut it into 10 bars instead of 12, which will give 146 calories, 8g protein and 4g dietary fibre.




Nutrition Information per bar (makes 12)
Calories: 122
Protein: 7g
Carbohydrate: 11g
Fat: 6g
Dietary Fibre: 3g

Ingredients
80g dried quinoa (cooked)
100g oats
40g hemp powder
20g salted almond kernels
20g salted pistachio kernels
30g milled flaxseed
50g grated parmesan
1 heaped teaspoon marmite (17g)
80g light soya milk

Method

• Cook the quinoa according to instructions.
• Preheat the oven to 180C.
• In a large bowl, weigh out the oats, hemp powder, flaxseed and parmesan.  Mix in the marmite with your fingers until it's distributed through the ingredients.
• Grind the nuts together in a blender and mix into the dry ingredients.
• Mix in the quinoa, and stir in the milk until the mixture forms a paste.
• Grease a 20cm non stick square metal baking tin, and press the mixture down well.  Score into 12 rectangles.
• Bake in the preheated oven for 25-30 mins until firm and browned (yes, you will actually be able to tell they've browned!).
• Remove from the oven, cut into bars, allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then cool completely on a wire rack.
• Wrap individually in foil, and store in an airtight box for up to a week.