Chocolate protein bars that are rich, chocolatey, fudgy, gooey, and sinfully delicious.
3 Steps To Instant Popularity:
First, take a class trip to a remote location. Bonus points if the trip lasts more than a week, and double bonus points if the trip includes multiple bus rides of 5 hours or more.
Second, bring along a stash of chocolate protein bars large enough to feed a small army.
Third, wait patiently. By day 6, it is almost guaranteed your tired and hungry classmates will clamor for your attention and fight over who gets to sit next to you.
At least… this is the experience I had at age 16 when–equipped with raisins, cashews, and a bunch of Luna and Clif bars–I went on a 10-day class field trip to northern China.
The trip involved quite a lot of walking in the heat, packing up and changing locations almost daily, and many long and boring bus rides, with not nearly enough food to sustain the energy expended on all of these activities.
Somehow word got out that Katie had a secret stash of food in her suitcase, and by the end of the trip I was breaking each protein bar into eight or ten pieces so there’d be enough to go around.
What was the best class field trip you ever took… or what was the worst?
Due to all of the incredible memories made during my ten days in northern China, I look back on the trip as one of the best school field trips I ever took.
However at the time, when we were hiking through the freezing-cold mountains at 5am, eating unfamiliar foods (including a goat we’d seen alive earlier in the day), and going out of our minds with boredom on the tour bus, I probably would have told you it was the absolute worst trip I ever took!
Chocolate Protein Bars
Adapted from Black Bean Brownies
Fudge Brownie Chocolate Protein Bars
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups black beans (1 15-oz can, drained and rinsed very well) (250g after draining)
- 3 tbsp dutch or regular cocoa powder (15g)
- 7 tbsp chocolate protein powder (I used Nutribiotic) (45g)
- scant 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/3 cup pure maple syrup or agave or honey (Honey is not for strict vegans.) (75g)
- pinch pure stevia, or 2 tbsp sugar of choice
- 3 1/2 tbsp coconut or vegetable oil (35g)
- 1 tbsp pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 tsp baking powder
- 1/3 cup to 2/3 cup chocolate chips (Not optional; omit at your own risk.)
Instructions
Homemade Chocolate Protein Bars: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Combine all ingredients except chips in a high-quality food processor, and blend until absolutely and completely smooth. (A blender works if you absolutely must, but the texture and taste will be much better in a food processor.) Stir in the chocolate chips. Pour into a greased 8×8 square pan. Optional: sprinkle extra chocolate chips over the top. Cook the homemade chocolate protein bars 16 minutes. They will still look underdone when you take them from the oven, but this is okay. Let cool, then pat down with a pancake spatula. Refrigerate overnight. The bars will have firmed up and are now ready to cut and eat. Store leftovers in the refrigerator. Makes about 10 bars.
Links Of The Day:
(How to make it the EASY way)
These look great! I def. will be trying them!
~Ashley @ A Cute Angle
http://acutelifestyle.blogspot.com
Wow!! These look sooo delicious! I wish I could eat one right now!!
These brownies look AMAZING!
I’m can’t wait to try them.
Keeping my fingers crossed they will work at high altitude 😀
ahh these look amazing!! i want one NOW PLEASE!!
i have to say that the field trip to the local garbage landfill was pretty unpleasant (however interesting). It didn’t smell too amazing. 😛
This recipe looks fantastic – and loved hearing the story of your trip! My favorite field trip was visiting a farm in Kindergarten – remember it like it was yesterday!
What brand of chocolate protein powder is used in this recipe, and where do you purchase it?
Nutribiotic chocolate, at Whole Foods I think.
Thanks, Katie!
Hmm…I’ve used black beans in raw puddings but never in my raw energy bars. Great idea and they look delicious!
Food is definitely the way to most people’s hearts. 🙂 Snacks like these are great to have on hand for field trips or long days out of the house.
Hi, how long do these keep? Should they be refrigerated and can they be frozen?
A few days, yes to fridge after a day. Not sure about freezing.
Katie, I have a box of dates in my cupboard. What if I added them to the Fudge Protein Bars? Would that work? Wouldn’t that add some great flavor?
You never know until you try!
I added about 10 dates to the recipe. Then I stirred in 1/4 cup of raisins with the chocolate chips. So yummy! No need to buy protein bars again! Next time, I think I will try a peanut butter version with chopped peanuts.
Quick question! First of all, I love this recipe and seriously can’t wait to try it. My question is, how much do you consider a pinch of stevia? I bought a box of NuNaturals stevia packets last week and so far I’m never quite sure how much to use, especially if the recipe calls for like 1/8tsp of liquid stevia. Are they equivalent? Does anyone have any recommendations? Thanks!
I have two field trips that were really great – one as a student, we went to the phosphate mines to look for fossils. All I cared about (besides a boy that was on the trip!) was finding sharks teeth! The other one was when I worked at an elementary school and the 4th grade field trip was to St. Augustine. Those were great trips, I just wish I could remember more about them!
Oh my yum! These look incredible Katie! I totally know what it’s like to be the snack queen 🙂
Would these just taste a little less “chocolatey’ using vanilla protein powder instead of chocolate?
Can’t wait to make the fudge protein bars, but I’m wondering if you think it’s necessary to include the protein powder, or the recipe would come out just fine if I omitted it? Thanks!
i was wondering the same thing! i’d love the extra protein and flavor boost, but it would expensive for to try to obtain protein powder, and i am a high schooler still living with parents who just tell me to “JUST MAKE SOMETHING ELSE that doesn’t have the powder/WHY do you need to make anything at all anyway?”
The point:
i read that one can use powdered skim milk–which is far cheaper and more available.
http://livinghealthyintherealworld.wordpress.com/2009/07/31/substitution-for-protein-powders/
i will be trying this soon.
I think you could also try with soy milk powder instead of the protein powder, if you have it. Haven’t tried but just an idea :).
Best class trip to the Philadelphia Museum of Art…..I would take bags of raisins and cashews too! And lots of Larabars and Artisana nut butter and coconut butter squeeze packs!!!