Real Protein Bars Act 1

I finally prepped a real batch of high-protein energy bars, using pure protein powder as a key ingredient. And this batch of protein bars turned out better than a couple other energy bars I had whipped up before.

Took a look at what goes into many protein bars, from many sources, and then came up with my own combining the elements I thought worked well together–so here goes:

Ingredients:

5 egg whites (into a big heat-proof bowl for cooking over a double-boiler)

~10 heaping Tbsp homemade almond-butter (ie take almonds in a food processor with a pinch of salt and grind them up until turns into something much like peanut butter, except almonds have a healthier array of fats than peanuts)

2 one-ounce squares of Bakers unsweetened chocolate

~1/2 -2/3 cup of skim milk

6 scoops of vanilla protein powder (100% protein, mix of whey protein and something else I think)

3 packages of pure gelatin powder (unflavored, also pure protein– each little pack was 7 g, so about 21 g )

1/2 cup ground dried soybeans (I make my own soy bean flour here since I haven’t found pure soy flour in Swiss stores)

1 cup of high-protein whole wheat flour

1/3 - 1/2 cup of nonfat dry milk

1/4-1/3 c dark brown sugar
Preparation:

In a double-boiler boiling with medium-high heat, beat the egg whites and sugar with an electric mixer until fluffy and cooked (a few minutes). Then put the chocolate cubes in the milk microwaved to melt the chocolate, by stirring it into a thick chocolatey mixture when milk is hot.

Then pour in all the dry ingredients, almond-butter and melted chocolate into the egg whites and stir (a bit of an arm workout near the end, itself!)

Onto wax paper or parchment paper, scrape out dough, hten roll it out into a slap, and I sprinkled on a very light layer of finely grated toasted coconut to help make the outside less sticky.

Also… I left them out on the counter to 100% cool down for about 2-ish hours, which I found helped slighly dry out the bars which would help for preservation, and to keep them less sticky in storage. (flipped them over once, too, to dry both sides)

They turned out quite good for a first try! Texture was just right, firm enough to hold togeter in nice bars but fairly soft and chewy inside. And with the ~1/3 c sugar, they were just very lightly sweet and seemed to be the perfect amount.

Overall made 20 bars plus some trimmings…already all gone….hrmm. This weekend will make another batch!