Last Wednesday I did a superfood protein bar demonstration in Opotiki at Beauty & Beyond for eight stressed out school teachers looking for ways to increase their energy and stamina to cope with their very busy and demanding lives. I made a very charged protein green smoothie for them to try and we discussed all the possibilities for addressing individual needs.

Homemade Superfood Protein Bar

In preparation I made a superfood protein bar to take along for the ladies to try…..they LOVED IT!!!!

But the best part about this superfood protein bar is I didn’t follow a recipe.

I went to my superfoods pantry and picked out all the ingredients that begged me to choose them and I put them together with my binding knowledge. This is what I did:

SuperFood Protein Bar Ingredients:

1 cup dried dates (soaked for 10 mins in warm water then roughly chopped)
1 cup mixed nuts (I used walnuts, almonds and cashews, preferably activated)
½ cup sunflower & pumpkin seeds mixed (preferably activated)
2 TBS sacha inchi protein powder
2 TBS cacao powder
2 TBS cacao nibs
2 TBS Lucuma or Yacon powder
1 tsp cinnamon
½ cup extra virgin coconut oil
½ cup cacao butter

Method:

Place nuts in blender or food processor and chop roughly. Remove and place to one side ( I do this so the nuts don’t get over processed to become a powder)
Place the drained soaked chopped dates in the blender with the coconut oil and blend till sticky and wet mass.

Meanwhile melt cacao butter in dish over hot boiling water (it melts easily so don’t microwave or heat in pot, you can easily overdo it and it burns)

In a bowl add the date mixture, chopped nuts and dry ingredients, mix, then add the cacao butter and mix.
The mixture should be nicely pliable and able to be pressed out into an 18cm x 25cm pie dish lined with baking paper. Cut into squares or bars then refrigerate to set properly (an hour or two) ……Ready to go!!!

Note:

The cacao butter is what sets it to a nice firm texture (without it being a challenge for the teeth). I store it in the fridge. You can play with this recipe, add to it, substitute ingredients, this is just to show you how you can put together a healthy delicious superfood protein bar snack treat to have on hand when the nasty sweet chocolate cravings are calling you. Just make sure you have a wet sticky binder and your dry ingredients can be eaten raw.

There is NO SUGAR in this superfood protein bar recipe (although hard to believe) remember the sugars in yacon powder cannot be absorbed by the human digestive system so pass straight through. This only took me 20 MINUTES TO MAKE !!!