I’m in love with crispy quinoa.
Beyond its sweetness,
The addictive noise of making them will always be music to my ears.
This time I chose to combine some favorite ingredients,
And turn them into protein bars full of energy and joy.
This wonderful snack is waiting for me in the freezer for those moments when I feel a tickle in my stomach.
It’s perfect in the afternoon.
Perfect for before training.
Insanely good for after training,
Amazing for kids
Exactly what you need next to your coffee,
And you just won’t be able to stop biting into it 🙂
It’s prepared in a few quick minutes and its addictive taste will accompany you for a long and enjoyable time.
All you need to do is to roast the quinoa,
Mix all the ingredients and let the magic happen in the freezer 🙂
Happy and joyful days to all of us 🙂
Chocolate protein bars | image: Essy Roz
Chocolate protein bars
Ingredients
Suitable for a loaf pan, about 10-12 slices
- 1 cup white quinoa (for alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)
- 1 cup coconut powder (can be replaced with almond flour)
- ½ cup almond butter (for alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)
- ½ cup date honey (for alternatives, have a look at “A little extra from me”)
- Pinch of salt
- 2 tablespoons cocoa
- 100g dark chocolate
- 1 cup coconut oil
- For decoration: 2 spoons almond butter / tahini
Preparation
Roast the quinoa: put the quinoa in a hot pan and fry it while constantly stirring.
You will start to hear weak popping sounds from the quinoa and it’ll start to bounce in the pan, notice that its color gets a little tanned.
The roasting time isn’t long. After roasting, place the quinoa on a wide plate.
Put the almond butter, date honey, cocoa and salt in a large bowl, and mix into a uniform spread. Add the coconut powder and the quinoa and mix again into a sticky and uniform paste.
Place parchment paper at the bottom of a loaf pan and place the mixture on it. Try to tighten the mixture well to the bottom of the loaf cake pan, so that it’ll be of uniform thickness and the same height.
Melt the dark chocolate and coconut oil in the microwave in pulses of 30 seconds, until you get a uniform texture of melted chocolate.
Pour the chocolate over the quinoa and coconut mixture in the loaf pan and flatten it.
Pour the almond butter with a spoon on top of the melted chocolate. Try to pour the almond butter in long lines along the entire pan. Using a toothpick, swirl the almond butter across the entire width of the pan so that you create these beautiful swirls on top of the chocolate.
You can also skip spreading the almond butter on top of the chocolate, it’s wonderful and delicious and adds beauty, but the snack can be stunning without it as well.
Put the pan in the freezer for at least 3 hours, it’s also possible for way, way longer than that. Take the pan out of the freezer, and let it stand on the counter for 10-15 minutes so that the bar will thaw a little and it’ll be easier to cut it into slices or cubes – however you like.
Serve with pleasure and enjoy every bite 🙂
A little extra from me:
- The bars can be kept in a sealed box in the freezer for 3 months.
- I recommend taking the snack out of the freezer 5-10 minutes before eating it.
- You can replace the quinoa with almond flour / more coconut powder. This change will make the bars energy bars, and not protein bars.
- For those of you who consume protein powder – you can replace the quinoa or the coconut powder with the protein powder.
- You can replace the almond butter with tahini / peanut butter / any nut butter you like.
- You can replace the date honey with honey / maple syrup / another liquid sweetener.
Chocolate protein bars – stages of preparation | image: Essy Roz
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Chocolate protein bars – stages of preparation | image: Essy Roz
Chocolate protein bars | image: Essy Roz
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