Hello everyone! I am back from a long trip to the other side of the world, and since we are entering the new year, it’s time to try and get back on the health train, so here I am with a vegan protein bar recipe — full of oats, hemp hearts, almonds, and flavoured with cocoa and hazelnuts (a classic flavour pairing).
After working in a healthy food cafe, I’ve come to realize there are a lot of people who are aiming to go for a more plant-based diet, or just have a lot of allergies or intolerances. So I wanted to come up with a little bar that would be healthy, but would still taste a bit like a dessert so that I would be able to satisfy some cravings as well as satiate my hunger. These days it seems like everyone is all about having a high protein diet, so of course I’ve decided to make a base that was high in natural protein, using oats, hemp hearts, and almond flour. The addition of the natural sugar from the dates, and the healthy fat content from the coconut oil helps to satiate your hunger and curb your sugar cravings. As a bonus, these also make the bars gluten-free if you use gluten-free oats!
Lastly, I decided to dress up these lovely little bites by spreading the top with some tempered dark chocolate, but this part is totally optional, although I did like the way it made the bars look. Alternatively you could just drizzle the chocolate over, or just omit it completely.
Here is the recipe!
Vegan Protein Bars
This makes about 24 bites.
Ingredients
110g (1 cup) almond flour
84g (2/3 cup) instant oats
34g (4 tbsp) hemp hearts
7g (1 tbsp) cocoa powder
0.5g (1/8 tsp) salt
198g (1-1/2 cup) dates
60g (1/4 cup) coconut oil, melted
114g (1 cup) raw or toasted hazelnuts
100g (2/3 cup) tempered chocolate for topping (optional)
Method
- Line a square 8×8″ pan with parchment or plastic wrap and set aside
- In a food processor, combine almond flour, instant oats, hemp hearts, cocoa and salt. Blitz on high speed until it looks like a fine powder.
- Add in the dates and the coconut oil, and turn on high speed until the whole mixture starts to come together, about 5 min. You can test this by taking some of the mixture and pressing it into a spoon to see if it holds together.
- Lastly, add in the hazelnuts and pulse until they are roughly chopped for some added crunch.
- Turn out onto the lined pan and press down firmly until it is level. Spread some tempered chocolate on top (optional).
- Let the chocolate set before putting into the fridge (if using), and place into the fridge to chill, preferrably overnight.
- Once the bars are thoroughly chilled, take a hot and clean knife (I kept my knife in some boiling water and wiped between cuts) and cut the bar into 6 columns, and 4 rows to give you 24 bite sized pieces.
- Keep in an air-tight container in the fridge for 1-2 weeks or in the freezer for longer storage!
- Enjoy!!
Feel free to check out the youtube tutorial below!
ally bakes 
Yes!! Definitely the kind of thing I need in the morning (:
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Yes these are perfect for the mornings!! I’ve been having them every day for the past week haha:)
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