No bake, delicious peanut butter and chocolate protein bars! Great energy snack for the afternoon and a pre-workout snack. These are really simple to make and all you need is just 4 ingredients!
Forget about store bought bars, even the ‘healthy’ ones are very high in sugar, margarine and other not-so-healthy ingredients. When you are reading the ingredients list of a store-bought bars, you may notice that often there are a couple of types of sugar like fructose, glucose and not just ‘sugar’. Making your own protein bars of course takes a bit more time than buying them but if you have 30 minutes over the weekend you can make one or two batches of those and store them in the fridge. They don’t have eggs or any dairy so they can last long for a week or even more. Take one for work and eat as a healthy energy snack when you need it during the day.
These protein bars are so nutty! Nuts are full of healthy monounsaturated fatty acids and have many other benefits. These fats are going to give your body a boost so eating them regularly can really have a positive impact on your health.
Peanuts are a great source of protein and probably the highest in protein nuts. Peanut butter is good for you (depending on the ingredients) as it is a great energy booster. As usual there are different products out there, most have added sugar and too much vegetable fat and less peanuts. Look for peanut butter that has 100% peanuts and no added oil or salt. If’s best to avoid the palm oil, here is the one I get. Or you can also make your own.
I also add my favourite hemp protein powder to these home made bars but it is optional and even if you don’t add any, the peanuts alone will provide you with a good amount of protein and energy.
Although these bars are made of natural ingredients, they still contain a lot of natural occurring sugars, so I wouldn’t recommend having more than one of these per day. :)
Ingredients
- 4 tbsp of peanut butter
- 100g dark chocolate
(gluten-free)
- 9-10 pitted medjool dates (or about 15 small dates)
- roughly 100 gr raw peanuts
- 30 g natural hemp protein powder
(optional)
Instructions
- Melt the chocolate by doing a hot-water bath. Pour into the food processor.
- In a small saucepan, gently warm up the peanut butter to allow it to melt slightly and add to the chocolate.
- Add the pitted dates and blend for about 5 minutes until you get a thick mixture.
- While you are blending the mixture, finely chop the raw peanuts. When done, spread the peanuts on a large sheet of baking paper.
- With a spoon take some of the mixture and lay over the peanuts and form about a 4 inch line. Cover with the chopped peanuts so that the mixture is not so sticky and it allows you to start forming the bar. It might feel a bit soft and fragile but that's okay. If it's too sticky, get your hands wet.
- After you are done shaping them, move the baking sheet on plate and put in the freezer for about 15 minutes to cool or until they are rock solid and ready to eat!
- Store in the fridge and they will be good for a week or even longer.
Notes
An alternative, slightly easier way of making these is to shape the mixture into little balls instead of bars.
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