Prune Protein Bars

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I was shopping last month and found the coolest silicone baking pans on sale at my local Tuesday Morning store.  They only had two of them and they were framed with steel, so they will support themselves and have something to grab onto that supports them when picking up to place/remove from the oven.  The compartments are approximately 4″x 1¼”x 1¼”, which is perfect for individual bar cookies, brownies, protein bars, mini cakes, or making little petit fours.  Here’s what it looks like:  But of course, you can press this dough into a pan and cut into squares with a knife as well.  This specialty pan isn’t essential for making these, just fun!  🙂

This recipe was inspired by a gluten-free granola bar recipe I saw over on Joyfulabode.com.  I decided to sweeten it up more as well as add some protein powder, DaVinci caramel syrup, and dried prunes.  The final result was very, VERY good.  And best of all, no cooking to speak of, so no heating up the kitchen.  These were so easy to make, I’ll be making variations on this recipe, I’m sure!  Plus these are stable/safe to store at room temperature, but I think they are less fragile if kept chilled.  In other words, they are not well-suited for back pack jostling. 🙂  They will tend to break apart if handled roughly.  For anyone interested, I froze a few and they froze just fine.  They did not get sticky on the surface or soggy in any way after defrosting.    This recipe is not suitable until the higher carb fruit rung of Atkins OWL Phase.

INGREDIENTS:

½ c. each almonds, walnuts, and pecans

¼ c. each roasted pumpkin seeds, sunflower seeds and sesame seeds

1½ c. coconut, unsweetened

½ c. erythritol (or preferred ½ c. sugar equivalent sweetener)

1 scoop (¼ c.) whey protein powder, unflavored, unsweetened (I use NOW for 1 net carb per scoop)

½ tsp. cinnamon

5 dried prunes, chopped

¼ c. sugar-free honey (I buy at Walmart)

¼ c. DaVinci caramel sugar-free syrup

1 tsp. vanilla

¼ c. coconut oil

¼ tsp. salt (omit if seeds above are salted)

DIRECTIONS:  Place the first 7 ingredients into the bowl of a food processor (or blender) and pulse 2-3 times to a medium grind.  You don’t want it too coarse; you don’t want it too fine.  🙂  In a small saucepan, bring the last 5 ingredients to a bubble over medium-high heat.  Remove from heat and pour over the dry mix and stir well to moisten all ingredients.  If you have suitable silicone muffin cups, press into 18 patties or bars, making them as level as you can with your fingers.  I found each one took about ¼ c. dough.  If you don’t want round patties, just press dough onto a 9×13 non-stick or parchment-lined pan.  Chill for 1 hour and cut into 18 bars.  Store extras covered in the bottom of your refrigerator or in your freezer.  I actually prefer to just freeze them and eat them right from the freezer, as they never really get hard, hard in the freezer.

NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:   Makes 18 bars, each contains:

187 calories

16.88 g  fat

5.72 g  carbs, 2.86 g fiber, 2.86 g. NET CARBS

5.1 g  protein

57 mg sodium

159 mg potassium

12% RDA Vitamin E, 34% copper, 17% iron, 18% magnesium, 39% manganese, 113 % Thiamin, 13.3 % zinc

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