It’s not a secret that I love a good snack bar. I recently tried a Quest brand cookie dough protein bar. It has sucralose and dairy protein; I know it’s not healthy, but man was it delicious.
As with every other delicious unhealthy thing I love, I wanted to create a version of these bars with real food ingredients. So I ground up some homemade almond butter and set to work.
These delicious bars were the result. I added some Vital Proteins beef gelatin because I love it and because I love the texture that it gives things.
The sweetness level of these bars can be changed; I used three tablespoons of maple syrup and the bars were just slightly sweet. Adding 6 tablespoons would make them dessert-like.
Go make some protein bars!!
Shared at Allergy Free Wednesday, Fat Tuesday
Where to find:
- almond butter – 1 cup
- honey – 3 tablespoons
- coconut oil – 1/4 cup, melted
- pure vanilla extract – 1 teaspoon
- salt – 1/3 teaspoon
- unflavored gelatin – 1/2 cup
- cacao nibs – 3 tablespoons
- Mix together all ingredients and press into an 8 inch by 8 inch glass baking dish. I didn’t use the whole area of the pan; pressed the dough into a rectangle in the pan leaving about 1 inch of the pan without dough. I did this so that the bars would be a little thicker.
- Freeze until firm and cut into bars.
- Store in the freezer in an airtight container and pop out when you need some cookie dough in your life!
Just stumbled across your site – love it! I can’t have honey right now due to a candida diet – is it possible to replace honey in your recipes with monk fruit or stevia? If so, what is the ratio please?
I’m not sure the ratio but you can add monk fruit or stevia to the dough until it tastes sweet via a taste test.
I’m absolutely going to try this! Just ate my last quest bar, and I’d much rather make my own than buy another box! Could I use vanilla Vegan protein powder in place of the gelatin?
That would probably work 🙂
Yum! Can’t wait to try!
Such a genius idea to use the gelatin for a truly nutrient and protein dense protein bar! I used your idea to make a cashew based bar and dates and maple syrup for a chocolate chip bar that is to die for! Thanks for all your creAtive genius!
Your version sounds delicious, too!
Is this a mistake? 1/2 cup gelatin?
Nope! The 1/2 cup grass-fed unflavored gelatin powder adds awesome healing properties to the bars; plus protein! 🙂
Can you use Knox unflavored gelatine packets instead?
Yes that would work 🙂
So for this you actually use gelatin & not collagen?
Yup 🙂 Could probably use collagen as well.
Does the gelatin leave a granular feel to the bars, or does it dissolve somehow? Usually gelatin needs to be mixed into a hot liquid to dissolve.
It should dissolve. It’s added here for protein rather than any kind of binding qualities that gelatin has.
I love this idea! Quest bars ARE delicious, but they make my tummy hurt. I love this copycat whole foods version! I need to try it ASAP!