Totally Nuts Sticky Protein Bars
I’m not gonna lie to you guys.
Chances are, you’re NOT going to like these.
Sorry about that…
I know, they look good and all, but you’re just not gonna like them.
So don’t even bother trying them. In fact, you should probably move on to the next post on your list of blogs to read…
Hey, I’m not kidding!
Well, ok… maybe a little.
But still, I need to serve a serious warning here. These bars are… different. I, myself, happen to love ’em for everything that they are, but I’m weird, you know that!
What’s that you ask? You would still like to find out more about them?
Well, alright. They are:
– Totally unsweetened. They don’t even TASTE sweet.
– Totally sticky! They will stick to everything. The knife you cut them with, the plate you place them in (a napkin might not be a good idea for these guys, unless you happen to like munching on paper), your fingers, your teeth… even your mind!
– Totally super healthy and clean. They are the very definition of what a protein bar should be and taste like to me!
– Totally addictive. Oh yeah. That, they are. Even if you don’t like them at first, you’ll want to take another bite… and another one, and another one still. Then, you’ll be completely hooked. And like me, you’ll wonder who in the world decided that peanut butter flavored things HAD to be sweet. Trust me, they don’t need to be. This tastes like pure nut butter and oatmeal in a bar.
But… like I said.
You won’t like ’em… at first!,
And if you think that you might want to give them a try but would like them to have a little bit of a sweet touch, you could always use vanilla flavored whey protein powder instead of plain. Add a handful of dried fruits, a few tablespoons of date paste maybe, or even honey, why not? Just use a little less water to compensate.
Also, feel free to use any nut butter you want. I happened to have a batch of mixed nut butter, which is made from walnuts, pecans, hazelnuts and almonds, to which I add a touch of cinnamon. OH! Heaven help me. I love that stuff.
But really, any nut butter would work here.
So long as you use all natural, that is!
Totally Nuts Sticky Protein Bars
Ingredients
- ½ cup all natural nut butter, I used a mix of walnuts, hazelnuts, pecans and almonds
- 1 cup water
- 2 cups Old Fashioned Rolled Oats*, one cup whole, one cup ground into flour
- 5 scoops, 175g plain whey protein powder (I used Ergogenics New Zealand Pro)
- ¼ cup almond meal
- ¼ cup coconut flour
- ¼ cup unsweetened shredded coconut
- ½ cup raw cacao nibs
- 1 tbsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp pure vanilla extract
- ½ tsp Himalayan Salt
Instructions
- Grind one cup of rolled oats in the food processor and set aside.
- If you are making your own almond meal from slivered almonds, make that now also while your bowl is still dry and clean...
- Add nut butter and water to your food processor and process until well blended.
- Add oats flour, coconut flour, almond meal, whey protein, cinnamon, vanilla and salt and process until well incorporated.
- Add whole oats, shredded coconut and cacao nibs and process until just blended.
- Transfer to a 8" x 8" pan that's been lined with parchment paper.
- Press the mixture down firmly with a wet rubber spatula until it's all nice and flat, then cover and refrigerate overnight.
- Cut into 12 bars and keep refrigerated for up to a week in an airtight container.
Notes
If you’ve tried this recipe, please take a minute to rate the recipe and let me know how things went for you in the comments below. It’s always such a pleasure to hear from you!
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24 Comments on “Totally Nuts Sticky Protein Bars”
Toujours très intéressant ce blog! Une belle banque de recettes santé savoureuses!
Merci tout plein, Fée! Trop gentil à toi! 😀
These look amazing! And the photography kills it, something that would be featured in a magazine. I applaud you, my friend 🙂
Aww, thank you so much Kammie! You are too kind! 🙂
What could I substitute for the almond flour if one is allergic to almonds? Would Flax meal be ok?
I really wouldn’t see why not, Jennifer. This recipe is fairly forgiving… feel free to improvise! 🙂
Oh, yay finally a bar recipe that doesn’t have any added sugar. I was getting so tired of seeing recipes that use honey, agave, maple syrup etc to hold them together. I’d think to myself, oh looks like I can’t make those haha. I just had a quick question- could I replace the coconut flour? With ground flaxseed maybe? Or just another flour. Thank you!!
If I was to choose a replacement, I would go with ground chia seeds. But I guess ground flaxseed would also do the trick. And if this is the way you think, then I think you’re safe! You can give them a try! Looks like you too are tired of super sweet protein bars. This one is barely sweet at all but still has you coming back for more! Please be sure to let me know how you liked ’em if you do give them a try. And if you don’t like them, please don’t be too hard on me! 😉
I am absolutely sure I would want sugar in these. I made your orange cranberry oatmeal cookies and yes. I added a good couple tablespoons of honey.. funny how we are so hooked on our sweet tooth eh. Would love to break out of it as you have. New Zealand protein powder!! I’m guessing it’s from NZ cows milk? Haha I loved reading about how NZ cows feed off “natural green grass pastures all year round”. I left NZ thinking that was the only way cows fed – I see its a little different in colder countries. Do you recommend the protein powder and is it easy enough to get in Canada?
LOL, too funny, Christina! I’m sure that if you were to use the vanilla flavored protein powder, it would do the trick as far as making them sweet enough to satisfy your sweet tooth!
As for the New Zealand protein powder, yes, I do recommend it. Very much so! And since Ergogenics is a Canadian company, it’s very easy to get your hands on it in this country! Win! 🙂
Ah ha – vanilla protein powder does wonders for sweetening without any calories eh. I wish hazelnuts weren’t so expensive – I love the idea of your hazelnut butter. And cacao nibs are so hard to source – might just buy them online too. Do you have a good online store that you buy from? Crudessence seems good (fresh nuts!) if not a little overpriced.. I’ve never tried Well.ca but I hear they do free shipping on large orders (that’s very important to us up here!). Any recommendations?
Wow, now that you’ve told me a billion times that I wont like them… I want to try them just to prove you wrong. Good strategy. They look divine if you ask me!
LOL! I certainly hope that you do prove me wrong, Leanne! But don’t say I haven’t warned you! 😉
You are so silly in your last posts. I like it!
Interesting “sales” technique here, Sonia. 🙂 Although it’s very kind of you to give a warning! But looking at the ingredient list, I’m thinking, “Huh? This actually sounds good!”
Thanks for saying that, Erin. Very good timing too… this was very much needed!
Some would call this “reverse psychology”… but I was actually serving a serious warning! Hey, even I wasn’t really convinced at first. But now… I’m craving them BIG TIME! I have some in the freezer calling me now. I have so much food, it’s not even funny. Too much for one single person, especially one who happens to be leaving for Cuba in a week and still needs to get new material for her blog before she leaves! Not always easy, being a food blogger, is it? Well, unless one doesn’t care about how much they weigh! 😉 Sometimes, I wish I didn’t!
These look really good. I’m a little scared that they’re not at all sweet, but I think I’d like them. The ingredients sound great 🙂 Plus the cinnamon and vanilla give a hint of sweet without actually being sweet, which I use a lot to reduce the sugar in things.
I too constantly use vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and almond extract to help give an illusion of sweetness. These bars would need more than an illusion, though, but I really liked the fact that they weren’t sweet. To me, it really let the nut butter shine, and you know just how much I love my nut butter! 😉
I’ve made these a couple of times now and I really like them. I make them as balls instead of bars and roll them in a little coconut flour or desiccated coconut when they’re done. I also add goji berries and chia seeds and have experimented with a few different flavored protein powders- all delicious! Thanks for the recipe! 🙂
Really? Thank you so much for letting me know, Ange. Glad to hear someone else out there also appreciates these. 😉 I really like your idea of making them into balls and rolling them into coconut… Funny, I thought I should do something like that too if I ever got to making that recipe again. Now you got me wanting to give it a try. 😀
Thank YOU so much for this great feedback, I totally appreciate that! 🙂
Hi 🙂 I would love to try these out. Would you please offer me a substitute for the protein powder? Thanks and keep the great recipes coming
Frankly, Kate, I wish I could, but I have no idea… I’d say just plain leave it out and up the coconut flour by a couple of tablespoons, maybe? I think it should do the trick.
For those interested, I just made the recipe and used 5 tbsps of coconut flour instead of the protein powder. I also decided to grind up all the oats. The mix held up extremely well. I am waiting for them to cool in the fridge before I give them a taste.
Thanks 🙂 I will definately try it out,