Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Protein Bars

So, it’s been awhile since I’ve posted a recipe here. I really love granola bars, fiber bars, protein bars, etc, so I’ve been meaning to try my hand at making some version of them. There are a number of recipes out there, and they seem pretty customizable, but here’s my first attempt. I pretty much followed this recipe with just a couple of modifications.

Ingredients

Dry:

• 1 cup soy protein powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 3 cups oats
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3/4 to 1 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
• 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips

Wet:

• 1 package silken tofu
• 1/2 cup peanut butter
• 2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/4 cup pineapple juice

Directions

• Preheat the oven to 350º and lightly oil a 9″x13″ baking pan.
• Combine all the dry ingredients.
• Fully mix together the wet. If you use soft enough tofu, you might be able to fork mash it, but I used a stick blender. (I had purchased merely “soft” tofu.) You can also play around with the liquid. The original recipe didn’t add any juice, and had yogurt instead of tofu. I’ve seen other recipes add fruit juice though (often apple), and I thought it would help with the consistency. I used pineapple because I had some. Some recipes also call for oil (1/4 cup) instead of the peanut butter. There’s room to play and to find what works for you.
• Add the wet to the dry and stir until they’re completely combined. I used my hands for this, to knead it all together. It really gloms together, but it takes a little time to get all the dry ingredients to stick.
• Pat the doughy-mixture flat into the pan and bake for 15 minutes
• Take it out at 15 minutes, cut it into whichever shape you’d like, and move those to a baking sheet. Return to the oven and bake until they’re done. (I did another 15 minutes, and they were just golden on the edges.)
• Let them cool, and wrap them tightly in cling wrap. I’m keeping half of them out (probably for a week), and I’m freezing the other half.

Nutrition Info
If you cut these into 16 bars (which I did, although two of them are rather large), I’ve calculated the following nutrition info (rounded, and courtesy of NutritionData.com):
Calories: 250
Fat: 9g (3g saturated)
Carbs: 31g (3g fiber, 14g sugar)
Protein: 14g
Not a bad start for a breakfast.

Initial Thoughts
I cut a bit off one of my too-large bars to try it, and my initial reaction was, “They’re okay.” I’ve had tastier commercial protein bars, but I think it’s a valiant first attempt. They’re a little bland – I’d probably up the cinnamon content, or maybe find some other spices. I might slightly increase the sugar in the next batch too. I’ve got a couple variations I’d like to try as well – with chopped up dried fruit instead of chocolate, maybe add some nuts, etc. This recipe is a good starting point, but I don’t think I’ll make this exactly the same way again.