No-Bake Paleo Chocolate Protein Bars

By á-9091

Ingredients

• Optional extras:
• 2 2 2 cups of nuts (I used almonds and cashews that I roasted)
• 2 2 2 big handfuls of shredded coconut
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup raw cacao powder
• 2 2 2 tbsp chia seeds
• 1/3 1/3 1/3 cup nut butter
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup coconut oil or butter (if you’re not Paleo or vegan)*
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 cup protein powder
• stevia (natural sweetener)
• 2 2 2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 1/2 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
• 1-2 1-2 1-2 tbsp rice malt syrup or liquid sweetener of your choice (I use rice syrup as it’s fructose-free)
• See more at: http://kipsandkale.com/no-bake-paleo-chocolate-protein-bars/#sthash.XPpPL7eL.dpuf

Preparation

Step 1

Blend the nuts in a small food processor or blender until finely chopped – as opposed to ‘roughly’ chopped. See below for a pic. I find if the pieces are too big the bars won’t stick together. But don’t blend for too long otherwise you’ll end up with nut meal. And if you blend even longer it will turn into nut butter, which is delicious, but not quite what we’re aiming for here…
Pop the blended nuts into a mixing bowl, add the rest of the dry ingredients and mix until combined
Melt the coconut oil/butter and syrup (if using) in a small bowl in the microwave, or over the stove if you can be bothered (I can’t)
Add to the dry ingredients, and mix around until everything is combined. Have a little taste, and add stevia and/or extra sweetener to reach your desired sweetness levels. If the mixture is really wet, add some extra chia seeds (or almond meal, psyllium husks etc) to thicken it up. If it’s too dry, add some extra coconut oil.
Line a small square (about 21 x 21cm) baking pan with baking paper (no need to grease it). Tip the mixture in, press it down and smooth out with the back of a spoon. Pop in the fridge for 30 minutes or so to set.
When set and hard enough to cut, lift the whole lot out on to a chopping board. Cut into squares, rectangles, triangles (they will definitely taste better), trapezoids, or maybe even a congruent geometrical double helix? It’s up to you, really. But I highly recommend squares for easy sharing and friend-making.
One final tip

I like to keep these bad boys in the freezer. They actually taste really good when semi-frozen! If you take them out, they will eventually get a bit soft at room temperature. And please don’t take one as a snack for during your next fun run; if you keep them in your pocket they’ll turn to goop and you’ll have people wondering if you missed the halfway toilet stop. And that’s not good for making friends.

- See more at: http://kipsandkale.com/no-bake-paleo-chocolate-protein-bars/#sthash.XPpPL7eL.dpuf